New study suggests that when a goat gaze into your eyes, it may be issuing a silent plea for help. And they love pasta!
Last summer at the Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent, England, 34 goats were put to a test on whether they will do anything to get a taste of their favorite pasta. Researchers put a piece of uncooked penne pasta on the lid of a Tupperware container and then placed the container itself atop the lid without locking it shut.
After a series of three trials, the goats managed to dislodge the box by nudging it off the lid, thus gaining access to the penne.
It was then followed by placing a box onto the lid so it couldn't be dislodged easily, even the researches had trouble opening it.
So what did the goats do? Thirty-two of them looked at the box, then at the human conducting the test. Then at the box again. Then at the human again.
The study was published in Biology Letters, co-authored by Christian Nawroth, a researcher on animal recognition at Queen Mary University of London.
According to Nawroth, lot of goats seem to have a strong bond with humans and it maybe because they expect food or some interactions like getting scratched or brushes.
In a picture, Vern, Nawroth's goat, looks right up to Nawroth's face. The researcher explained that goats see as kind of a mobile scratch post. And in this picture, Vern just wanted to scratch his eyes on a soft surface.
The behavior where the goats look at the human then back at the tightly lid container is just like saying that they are trying to get you to the box, pointing out that they had a problem and they need help.
Same behavior is also present for dogs and on horses. The only difference is, the goats used is not domesticated to interact with humans yet shows similar human-directed behavior if they encounter a task they cannot solve.
It is possible to have goats as pets as long as the owner meets its needs likes: a huge backyard and more than one goat.
If the goats are attached to humans, just spending time with them gives that really relaxing feeling for the human -- the same way as how humans and their pet cats or dogs relationship goes.
Source: NPR
Share It To Your Friends!
Loading...