display

We humans not only recognize each other by our faces, we can even tell by their facial expressions how our counterpart is doing.

If he smiles, he is happy.

If he pulls the corners of his mouth down, he is unhappy.

This is extremely important for social coexistence and togetherness.

Because only in this way can we assess the other and adapt our behavior accordingly.

Not only are we able to do this, our four-legged friends can also see how we are feeling from their faces, facial expressions and gestures.

Horses even go one step further.

They not only recognize the emotional state, they notice and remember the state of mind even hours later.

French researchers at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment wanted to know whether horses can not only recognize and differentiate us face to face, but also simply from a photo.

After all, they have lived by our side for around 5000 years and have built a deep bond with us.

Source: Getty Images / Westend61

display

Behavioral scientist Léa Lansade and her colleagues put the animals to the test for their study.

To do this, they first taught the eleven horses to choose between two photos that were displayed on a touchscreen by touching the screen with their noses.

During the actual test, the scientists then presented the mares with a picture of their current owner and next to them a picture of a person they did not know.

The result: In 75 percent of the cases, and therefore more than could happen by chance, the animals identified their owners and nudged the correct photo.

What's more, they even recognized their previous owners, whom they hadn't seen in at least six months.

Source: Celine Parias - INRAE

Horses can differentiate between known and unknown faces and understand that photos are only a two-dimensional representation of real life without smelling or making noises.

In addition, the experiments show that the animals - at least when it comes to recognizing faces - have a long-term memory.

display

In future experiments, the scientists want to find out whether horses react fearfully or even evasively when they are shown a photo of a person with whom they have previously had bad experiences.

This article was first published in May 2020.