"Yeah, I remember that face, it belongs to a Judge."
Posted on 09/15/2002 10:53:58 AM PDT by jstone78
Sheep can remember 10 human faces for two years
Scientists have found sheep can remember at least 50 different sheep and 10 humans for more than two years.
When they were shown a picture of a "friendly face" it appeared to reduce the stress of being alone.
Previous research has already shown that sheep recognise other sheep by their facial features.
Professor Keith Kendrick, from the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, said: "Sheep, like us, recognise both friends and enemies through a remarkable memory for faces.
"They are attracted to each other's faces and may even be able to imagine the faces of absent friends."
Experiments conducted by Professor Kendrick's team showed that sheep could remember new faces - both sheep and human - very quickly.
Like humans, sheep use a specialised part of the temporal lobe in the brain to remember faces. Their overall ability to distinguish between similar faces is not much worse than a human's, said Professor Kendrick.
They also share the human trait of having trouble recognising faces, but not other objects, when they appeared upside down.
Professor Kendrick told the British Association Festival of Science at Leicester University: "We may have underestimated the importance and complexity of a sheep's social environment and their intelligence."
The next step was to establish the level at which sheep were capable of thinking about the absent faces of other sheep or humans, and to investigate what was going on in their brains, he said.
It has been alleged that there are some farm boys out there, who have violated the civil rights of sheep, and might just do anything to prevent the sheep from testifying in court.
"Yeah, I remember that face, it belongs to a Judge."
That's good news. If I can just stay in hiding for another 18 months, that sheep won't be able to pick me out of a lineup.
---Monty Python's Flying Circus c.1971.
Here's lookin' at you, kid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.