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Goats: Man's Other Best Friend

posted by chromas on Monday July 02 2018, @07:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the e.cs dept.

takyon writes:

Goats display audience-dependent human-directed gazing behaviour in a problem-solving task

Goats might not seem like the most cuddly animals, but researchers have found evidence that goats are as clever as dogs, and just as capable of building emotional relationships with humans as all the other domesticated animals we've let into our hearts and homes. The 2016 study showed that goats stare intensely at their owner when they're struggling to complete a task - a trait that's also observed in domesticated dogs, but not wolves.

[...] "From our earlier research, we already know that goats are smarter than their reputation suggests," said one of the researchers Alan McElligott. "But these results show how they can communicate and interact with their human handlers even though they were not domesticated as pets or working animals."

Not only does that suggest goats have the potential to be awesome and loving sidekicks, just like dogs, it also indicates that living alongside humans for tens of thousands of years - regardless of whether they're companion animals or not - might have a bigger impact on species than we expected.

Goats display audience-dependent human-directed gazing behaviour in a problem-solving task (open, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0283) (DX)

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  • (Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday July 02 2018, @07:26PM (5 children)

    by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Monday July 02 2018, @07:26PM (#701540)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2_-i_cohMM [youtube.com]

    They're huge dicks IRL though.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Monday July 02 2018, @07:37PM

    by frojack (1554) on Monday July 02 2018, @07:37PM (#701545) Journal

    Some have an additional option to their Fight or Flight impulse: Faint! [youtube.com]

    --
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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by EvilSS on Monday July 02 2018, @11:59PM (3 children)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 02 2018, @11:59PM (#701643)
    We had a family friend who bought some goats for their home once. 40 acres so not exactly urban here. They had a little (about 2 acre) pasture setup with an electric fence round it that they kept them in. One day the wife goes out to feed the goats, is bent over and one butts her in, well, her butt. She lurched forward and reached out to catch herself. Unfortunately for everyone involved he caught herself on the electric fence wire. The husband came home that night and the goats were all strung up from a tree in the yard.

    On the upside he said the goat sausage was quite tasty.

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday July 03 2018, @06:04AM (2 children)

      by Arik (4543) on Tuesday July 03 2018, @06:04AM (#701752) Journal
      "One day the wife goes out to feed the goats, is bent over and one butts her in, well, her butt. She lurched forward and reached out to catch herself. Unfortunately for everyone involved he caught herself on the electric fence wire. "

      I would bet you they had planned that out several days, maybe a week ahead of time, and had been waiting for her to bend over in just the right place for that to happen.

      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

      • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday July 03 2018, @04:40PM (1 child)

        by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 03 2018, @04:40PM (#702001)
        I mean, smart for planning, but not so smart for not recognizing her Spanish temper ahead of time.

        • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday July 03 2018, @09:07PM

          by Arik (4543) on Tuesday July 03 2018, @09:07PM (#702172) Journal
          Maybe they didn't recognize it, maybe they just didn't care. They really do live for pranks.
          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?