Goats Are Able To Understand Human Facial Expressions

According to a recent study, goats are more intelligent than people previously thought. Goats have the ability to understand human expressions. They can tell the difference between unhappy faces and smiling ones and are attracted to the latter.

Pretty wild, huh?

How was the study conducted, you might ask. Researchers went to a goat sanctuary, and they showed goats a pair of photos — one with a happy face and the other with an angry expression. They were surprised to find that ALL the goats were drawn to the happy face.

Honestly, the fact that Goats like you more when you're happy sounds like a good enough reason to smile.

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During the experiment, the goats at the sanctuary were let loose to explore and all of them approached the happy-face photos and even went as far as to examined them with their cute snouts!

Via Royal Society Publishing
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Strangely enough, the experiment only seemed to work when he happy photos were placed on their right-hand side. When the images were reversed, the goats didn't seem to be drawn to either photo.

Via u/septchouettes
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The reason for this can be explained by the fact that goats only use one side of their brain to process information.

Via Science Photo Library East News
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Goats aren't the only animals to understand human emotions!

A 2015 study found that dogs can also identify facial expressions of their human companions. This experiment was also carried out in the same manner, and just like the gots, the dogs were attracted to the smiling faces.

Via u/rumbrave55