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2018-08-29 11:43:10
29 August 2018
Scientists have found that goats are drawn to humans with happy facial
expressions.
The result suggests a wider range of animals can read people's moods than was
previously thought.
The team showed goats pairs of photos of the same person, one of them featuring
an angry expression, and the other a happy demeanour.
The goats in the study made a beeline for the happy faces, the researchers
report in the journal Open Science.
The result implies that the ability of animals to perceive human facial cues is
not limited to those with a long history of working as human companions, such
as dogs and horses.
Instead, it seems, animals domesticated for food production, such as goats, can
also decipher human facial cues.
The study was carried out at the Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent, UK.
Co-author Dr Alan McElligott, from Queen Mary, University of London, and
colleagues set up pairs of black-and-white photos about 1.3m apart on one wall
in their test area.
Then, a goat would be let loose to explore the set-up.
Doe eyes
The researchers found that the goats strongly preferred the smiling faces,
approaching the happy faces before acknowledging the angry photos. They also
spent more time examining the smiling faces with their snouts.
But the effect was only significant when the happy-faced photo was placed on
the right-hand side.
When the happy photos were placed on the left, the goats showed no significant
preference either way.
The researchers think this is because the goats are using one side of their
brain to process the information - something that's seen in other animals.
It could either be that the left side of the brain processes positive emotions,
or that the right side of the brain is involved in avoidance of angry faces.
Dr McElligott, who is now based at the University of Roehampton, said: "The
study has important implications for how we interact with livestock and other
species, because the abilities of animals to perceive human emotions might be
widespread and not just limited to pets."
Co-author Natalia Albuquerque, from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, said:
"The study of emotion perception has already shown very complex abilities in
dogs and horses.
"However, to date, there was no evidence that animals such as goats were
capable of reading human facial expressions. Our results open new paths to
understanding the emotional lives of all domestic animals."
The study could also have implications for animal welfare, helping change
perceptions of these livestock animals by highlighting their sentience.