Based on their observations, the researchers concluded that horses rely on the head orientation of their peers to locate food.
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According to a new study that appeared Aug. 4 in the journal Current Biology, horses are receptive to the facial expressions and attention of other horses, including the direction of the eyes and ears. The findings serve as a reminder for humans to set aside the perceptions of our species’ limitations and be aware that other species may communicate in ways that we cannot.
“Our study is the first to examine a potential cue to attention that humans do not have: the ears,” said Jennifer Wathan of the University of Sussex. “Previous work investigating communication of attention in animals has focused on cues that humans use: body orientation, head orientation, and eye gaze; no one else had gone beyond that. However, we found that in horses their ear position was also a crucial visual signal that other horses respond to. In fact, horses need to see the detailed facial features of both eyes and ears before they use another horse’s head direction to guide them.”
Additionally, this new study challenges the earlier held idea that animals with eyes to the sides of their heads cannot collect information based on the direction of one another’s gaze.
The researchers used photographs to document cues given by horses when they were focusing on anything, and then used those photographs as life-sized models for other horses to look at as they chose between two feeding buckets. In every case, the horse in the photo was paying attention to one of the buckets and not the other, while in others, the researchers manipulated the image to remove information from key facial areas, including the eyes and the ears.
Based on their observations, the researchers concluded that horses rely on the head orientation of their peers to locate food. However, when parts of the face of another horse are covered, the ability to read each other’s interest level is disrupted. The capacity to correctly judge attention also varied depending on the identity of the horse pictured, which also offered the notion that facial recognition may be an additional important factor.
According to National Geographic, horses and humans have an ancient relationship. Asian nomads probably domesticated the first horses some 4,000 years ago, and the animals remained essential to many human societies until the advent of the engine. Horses still hold a place of honor in many cultures, often linked to heroic exploits in war.
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