A new study published in the journal Biology Letters claims that goats are as smart and affectionate as dogs. The internet already knew this: they ended up winning over everyone with cute gifs of their puppies and funny mash ups of their sounds with pop diva songs.
Research by a team from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary University, London, England, looked at these characteristics offline.
In the first experiment, goats had to remove the lid of a box to receive a reward. In the second, the researchers turned the box upside down, making the task more difficult.
When they failed to complete the objective, the animals were facing humans in search of a solution. If the closest human had their back turned, the animal would seek to make contact with another person.
“Goats see humans in the same way that dogs do when they want something that is beyond their reach”, explained researcher Christian Nawroth in the release of the study. “Our results show that goats try to establish communication with humans.
Even though they are a species that was primarily domesticated for agriculture, they have similarities to animals that are bred to be pets, like dogs, for example.”
In previous research, Nawroth did an experiment in which he placed two cups in front of the goats, one with snacks and one empty, to see if they could process such information — and the animals did not disappoint.
“We already knew that goats are smarter than their reputation suggests, but these new results show that they can communicate and interact with humans even though they weren’t domesticated for pets.”
The researchers hope the study will make people more understanding of the goats’ abilities and, of course, start treating them better.
Anyone who raises and likes goats probably already knows: these animals can be quite intelligent and have the ability to interact with people, as dogs and cats or any other domesticated animal do. The statement is from a recent survey by the Queen Mary University of London, England.
Analyzing goats from an animal sanctuary in the UK, the researchers found that they are able to make that pleading look when they can’t resolve a behavior on their own, and also change their reactions in line with human behavior.
The trait, according to them, can be identified in dogs and horses.
“Our results provide strong evidence of complex human-directed communication in a species that was domesticated primarily for agricultural production, and show similarities with animals raised to become pets or working animals such as dogs and horses,” says Dr. Christian Nawroth, one of the study’s authors.
“Goats were the first livestock species to be domesticated, around 10,000 years ago,” says lead author Dr Alan McElligott. “From our previous research, we already know that goats are smarter than their reputation suggests, but these results show how they can communicate and interact with their owners even though they weren’t domesticated as pets or work animals,” he says. he.
