Transfer between views of conspecific faces at different ages or in different orientations by sheep.
Behavioural Processes. 2004-11-01; 67(3): 491-499
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2004.08.005
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1. Behav Processes. 2004 Nov 30;67(3):491-9.
Transfer between views of conspecific faces at different ages or in different
orientations by sheep.
Ferreira G(1), Keller M, Saint-Dizier H, Perrin G, Lévy F.
Author information:
(1)Equipe de Comportement Animal, UMR 6175 INRA-CNRS-Université de Tours,
Nouzilly 37380, France.
Sheep are able to discriminate photographs of conspecific faces. The present
study investigates adult ewe’s recognition of faces of the same animal between
different ages or between different orientations. Twelve adult sheep were first
trained to discriminate between faces of two unfamiliar animals, one of which was
associated with a food reward. Transfer of discrimination from this pair to the
same pair but at a different age, or in a different orientation, was then
evaluated (transfer test), and compared with a new pair of the same condition
(control test). Learned discrimination of a frontal view of unfamiliar
3-month-old lambs’ faces improved subsequent discrimination of the same pair when
they were 1-month-old in comparison to discrimination of new 1-month-old faces.
Moreover, sheep that were trained to discriminate frontal views of unfamiliar
adult individuals discriminated profile views of the same animals more accurately
than that of novels. However, learned discrimination of the profile view of
unfamiliar adult faces had no effect on subsequent discrimination of the frontal
view of that same pair. These results suggest that to some extent sheep recognise
faces of unfamiliar animals at different ages and in different orientations.
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2004.08.005
PMID: 15518998 [Indexed for MEDLINE]