08-27-2004, 11:23 PM
from http://www.in-sourced.com/article/articl...2090/1/13/
2004.08.28
"All Sheep Need Is A Friendly Face
Scientists at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge discovered that when sheep are on their own, showing them faces of other sheep has a calming effect on them.
The findings suggest that when animals are isolated but shown pictures of friendly faces it calms them down and this may be why humans carry pictures of their loved ones in a wallet.
Scientists tested this by putting 40 sheep on their own in a darkened barn and showed them various faces. The sheep had their stress levels monitored by looking at the number of times each sheep bleated, its heart rate and movement. Blood samples were also taken so the scientists could measure the level of adrenaline and cortisol which are chemical indicators of stress.
Showing pictures of sheep familiar to them caused the sheep to become less stressed and showed less signs of agitation than when they were shown pictures of triangles and goat faces.
Professor Kendrick, who led the research, said: "Very few experiments have been done with face recognition on species other than monkeys and sheep but we are sure that species which have reasonable face recognition, including dogs, will react in the same way. Some dogs really don't like being left by their owner so it might be that one way of keeping them calm and stopping them trashing the place is to provide them with a picture of their owner."
The researchers are now conducting further tests on sheep by showing them pictures of sheep with different facial expressions to see what results they get back with the stress levels of the sheep.
It is believed that the findings would lead to a greater understanding of neurological disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome and schizophrenia."
2004.08.28
"All Sheep Need Is A Friendly Face
Scientists at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge discovered that when sheep are on their own, showing them faces of other sheep has a calming effect on them.
The findings suggest that when animals are isolated but shown pictures of friendly faces it calms them down and this may be why humans carry pictures of their loved ones in a wallet.
Scientists tested this by putting 40 sheep on their own in a darkened barn and showed them various faces. The sheep had their stress levels monitored by looking at the number of times each sheep bleated, its heart rate and movement. Blood samples were also taken so the scientists could measure the level of adrenaline and cortisol which are chemical indicators of stress.
Showing pictures of sheep familiar to them caused the sheep to become less stressed and showed less signs of agitation than when they were shown pictures of triangles and goat faces.
Professor Kendrick, who led the research, said: "Very few experiments have been done with face recognition on species other than monkeys and sheep but we are sure that species which have reasonable face recognition, including dogs, will react in the same way. Some dogs really don't like being left by their owner so it might be that one way of keeping them calm and stopping them trashing the place is to provide them with a picture of their owner."
The researchers are now conducting further tests on sheep by showing them pictures of sheep with different facial expressions to see what results they get back with the stress levels of the sheep.
It is believed that the findings would lead to a greater understanding of neurological disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome and schizophrenia."