Cows can recognize familiar human faces. Researchers tested this by showing muted videos of familiar and unfamiliar male faces and recording how long cows gazed at each video. Cows stared longer at unfamiliar faces, indicating they can differentiate known from unknown individuals using visual cues alone. A second experiment added audio in which each man spoke an identical sentence while the cows watched familiar or unfamiliar faces. When the voice matched the face, cows spent more time looking at the video. Heart rate measurements were also taken to assess emotional responses during viewing. The findings support social recognition in cows and suggest similar face-categorization abilities across domestic species.
"The observed results support the view that cows can categorise human faces according to familiarity. Thus, the capacity for differentiating human faces based on visual cues alone found in other domestic species could extend to cows."
"Firstly, the cows were played muted videos of familiar and unfamiliar male faces, while the researchers measured how long the animals gazed at them. Next, the team played videos of familiar and unfamiliar faces while broadcasting audio corresponding to one of the two men, with each man saying an identical sentence. In addition, the team measured the cows' heart rates as they watched the videos to see if they responded emotionally."
"In the first experiment, the cows were found to stare longer at videos of unfamiliar people. But when the videos were paired with sound, the animals spent more time staring at the video when the voice matched the sound."
Read at Mail Online
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