New Study Indicates That Goats Understand When You're Smiling And It Makes Them Happy Too

Jun 13, 2019 by apost team

To some degree, we all love and appreciate animals and our furry friends. But some people underestimate the intelligence of animals, especially when it comes to their emotional IQ. With the findings from a new study, non-believers might find themselves questioning these thoughts about the shortcomings of animals. Most people find joy in spending time with animals, and they often make us smile with their quirky ways and adorable appearances. But next time you’re around an animal, you might want to make sure you put on a smile.

Although it has been found in prior research that animals such as horses, dogs, and even crows can understand our facial expressions, what about other animals?

Well, a new research project conducted by The Royal Society in August 2018 may have you questioning everything that you thought you knew about one particular animal: goats!
The organization has found that goats often know how to respond to the facial expressions of humans. They also found that these animals, much like humans, enjoy being around others that are smiling!

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Goats are known for their friendliness and playful nature. They are eager to learn and enjoy being around human companions. We often see them happily bouncing and jumping around, which makes us believe that they’re fully capable of having moods and emotions.

Although goats were not bred to be pets for humans, and instead were meant to be farmhands, it’s interesting how much they can enjoy our company. We would expect animals like dogs to understand our facial expressions, but a goat knowing our moods by the look displayed on our faces is impressive!

But how exactly did The Royal Society put these goats to the test? A number of goats were placed into a pen with pictures of happy humans and angry humans. The goats were meant to roam around and interact with these pictures in order to determine which they liked best. The scientists found that the goats much preferred the happy picture, and interacted with it much more than the angry one.

Clearly, these goats have a preference when it comes to the temperament of a human!

Next time you visit a farm, make sure you put a big smile on your face for the goats and other animals!

To learn more about the study, watch the video below:

What do you think about this study? Do you think there are more animals that can determine our moods? Let us know your thoughts and don't forget to show this info to your friends and family!