(Press-News.org) HONG KONG (18 Jan 2024) — Goats can tell the difference between a happy-sounding human voice and an angry-sounding one, according to research co-led by Professor Alan McElligott, an expert in animal behaviour and welfare at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK).
The study reveals that goats may have developed a sensitivity to our vocal cues over their long association with humans, according to the study published in Animal Behaviour.
Long known for their own sonorous vocal skills, goats in the study tended to spend longer gazing towards the source of the sound after a change in the valence of a human voice, i.e., when the playback switched from a happier to an angrier sounding voice or vice versa.
“This study offers the first evidence that goats can discriminate between cues expressed in the human voice, namely, emotional valence,” said Professor McElligott. “These findings contribute to the limited literature available indicating livestock, like companion animals, are sensitive to human emotional cues.”
The rationale for the experiment is that research previously conducted by Professor McElligott and his collaborators has already shown that goats can read human emotional expressions, suggesting that companion animals like dogs and horses are not the only ones to perceive different human facial cues. He and his team have also demonstrated that goats encode their bleating with information related to their individual identity and emotional experiences.
The next question to investigate was, can goats distinguish the emotional valence of the human voice?
In the experiment, goats listened to a series of voice playbacks expressing either a positive (happy) or a negative (angry) valence during the habituation phase, i.e., when the goat becomes accustomed to the human voice and valence, so they would respond less as the phase progressed. The recording was then switched from a positive to a negative valence (or vice versa) before being reversed.
"We predicted that if goats could discriminate emotional content conveyed in the human voice, they would dishabituate, looking faster and for longer towards the source of the sound, following the first shift in valence,” said Dr Marianne Mason, University of Roehampton, UK.
The results indicated that 75% of the goats that looked at the speaker following a change in valence looked for more extended periods, suggesting these goats had perceived the shift in the emotional content of human voice playbacks.
Not all goats responded to the auditory human voice cues in the same way. Many goats failed to respond to the change in valence, which might be due to variations in cognitive abilities among goats to perceive human emotional cues, among other external factors.
Also, the researchers didn't notice any significant physiological changes among the goats, such as a raised heartbeat when exposed to changes in voice valence.
However, the results are essential for adding to our understanding of animal behaviour, welfare and emotional experiences, especially since goats and other livestock will hear the human voice in their daily lives. Negatively valenced voices, like angry ones, may cause fear in animals. In contrast, positive ones may be perceived as calming and may even encourage animals to approach and help with human-animal bonding.
"The observed differences in goat responses to human emotional cues may emphasise the importance of individual experiences and learning, particularly interspecific emotional communication," Professor McElligott concluded. “Further research is needed to understand the importance of the human voice on the emotional lives and welfare of goats and other domesticated species."
The research was supported by CityUHK’s Centre for Animal Health and Welfare, set up in 2020, and comprised a multidisciplinary team of veterinary researchers with complementary expertise and shared core values of excellence, integrity, and compassion.
The Centre’s mission is to improve the quality of life of animals by producing high-impact research that brings evidence-based solutions to address significant health and welfare problems in Hong Kong and beyond.
The research on goats and human voice was a collaboration between City University of Hong Kong; the School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Roehampton, UK; and the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Cambridge, UK. The research was conducted at Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats, a registered charity in southeast England set up in 1989 to care for goats needing urgent care.
END
Goats can tell if you are happy or angry by your voice alone
2024-01-30
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Scientists identify how fasting may protect against inflammation
2024-01-30
Cambridge scientists may have discovered a new way in which fasting helps reduce inflammation – a potentially damaging side-effect of the body’s immune system that underlies a number of chronic diseases.
In research published in Cell Reports, the team describes how fasting raises levels of a chemical in the blood known as arachidonic acid, which inhibits inflammation. The researchers say it may also help explain some of the beneficial effects of drugs such as aspirin.
Scientists have known for some time that our diet – particular a high calorie Western diet – can increase our risk of diseases ...
Superfluids could share characteristic with common fluids
2024-01-30
Every fluid — from Earth’s atmosphere to blood pumping through the human body — has viscosity, a quantifiable characteristic describing how the fluid will deform when it encounters some other matter. If the viscosity is higher, the fluid flows calmly, a state known as laminar. If the viscosity decreases, the fluid undergoes the transition from laminar to turbulent flow. The degree of laminar or turbulent flow is referred to as the Reynolds number, which is inversely proportional to the viscosity. The Reynolds law of dynamic similarity or Reynolds similitude, states that if two fluids flow around similar structures with different length ...
Alzheimer’s treatment roadblocks can be eased by engaging primary care providers in screenings
2024-01-30
There is substantial geographic variation across the U.S. health care system to diagnose and treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease with disease-modifying therapies, and engaging primary care providers in the effort may be a key to accelerating delivery of emerging new treatments, according to a new RAND report.
Enabling primary care practitioners to diagnose and evaluate patients for treatment eligibility would make the biggest impact on reducing wait times for specialists and increase the number of people treated with disease-modifying therapies from 2025 through 2044.
While primary care providers are technically capable of performing cognitive assessments, ...
New study identifies link between presence of oncofoetal ecosystem and liver cancer recurrence
2024-01-30
A new causal link has been found between the presence of oncofoetal ecosystems and recurrence and response to immunotherapy in primary liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
The findings will pave the way to use the presence of oncofoetal ecosystems as a biomarker to treat HCC, a disease with a poor prognosis that is typically diagnosed late
Singapore, 30 January 2024 - A team of clinician-scientists and researchers from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and global research partners, has found a causal link between the presence of oncofoetal ...
Unveiling the effect of Ti substitutions on the static oxidation behavior of (Hf,Ti)C at 2500 ℃
2024-01-30
Hf-based carbides are highly desirable candidates for thermal protection applications above 2000 ℃ due to their extremely high melting point and favorable mechanical properties. However, as a crucial indicator for composition design and performance assessment, the static oxidation behavior of Hf-based carbides at their potential service temperatures has been rarely studied.
In a study published in the KeAi journal Advanced Powder Materials, a group of researchers from Central South University and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology revealed the static oxidation mechanism ...
High power fiber laser at 1.2 μm waveband
2024-01-30
Laser sources operating at the 1.2 μm wavelength band have some unique applications in photodynamic therapy, biomedical diagnosis and oxygen sensing. Additionally, they can be adopted as pump sources for mid-infrared optical parametric generation as well as visible light generation by frequency doubling. Laser generation at 1.2 μm waveband has been achieved with different solid-state lasers including semiconductor laser, diamond Raman laser, and fiber laser. Among these three types, fiber laser thanks to its simple structure, good beam quality, and operation flexibility, is a great choice for 1.2 μm waveband laser generation.
Researchers ...
Integrated design of Global Ocean Observing System essential to monitor climate change
2024-01-30
We know that our climate is changing. Extreme weather events are becoming more common, sea levels are rising and overall, our planet is getting warmer. Monitoring these changes is critical. One of the best indicators of climate change is the Ocean Heat Content (OHC) estimate, a measurement of overall oceanic temperature calculated by gathering water temperature data in oceans around the world in differing locations, at varying depths and across time. The data necessary to calculate the OHC over such a wide-spread area is gathered by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), an integrated network of platforms ...
Nitrogen-based fertilizers differentially affect protist community composition in paddy field soils
2024-01-30
Soil microbiome has far-reaching significance, particularly for rice production, which can be better explained with a Japanese proverb: “Rice grows with soil fertility, while upland crops depend on fertilization”. Therefore, understanding the paddy field microbiome is crucial for sustainable soil fertility and rice production. This would also lead us to overcome the global food shortage problem as rice is the primary food source for nearly half of the world's population. Among the paddy field microbes, bacteria, fungi, and archaea are well-studied, while protists, the vast majority of eukaryotes, are largely unknown. Protists are the most diverse eukaryotic microorganisms ...
Systemic US reforms needed to prevent mass death in the next pandemic
2024-01-30
Ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, The BMJ today launches a forward-looking series that highlights the lessons that can be learned from the US’s covid-19 experience and the actions that are needed to prevent the loss of another million citizens in the next pandemic and improve and protect population health.
The articles, written by leading clinicians and researchers across the US, explore topics such as how systemic racism and economic inequality contributed to covid-19 disparities; mass incarceration and poor prison health as a driver of the pandemic; ...
U.S. regulatory system failed to prevent thousands of deaths in frontline workers during the pandemic
2024-01-30
An analysis published today in the The BMJ examines the risks faced by frontline workers in the United States during the pandemic and suggests reforms that could protect population health and save lives.
Lead author Professor David Michaels at the George Washington University and his colleagues note that from the onset laws and regulations in the United States inadequately protected frontline workers. The gaps allowed a rapid spread of disease in US workplaces like meat packing plants. At the same time, these essential workers were rarely seen as a population that needed special attention ...