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Related: About this forumResearch Suggests Horses Can Read Human Emotions
Research Suggests Horses Can Read Human Emotions
Thursday, February 11, 2016
SUSSEX, ENGLANDDomesticated horses are able to distinguish between angry and happy human facial expressions, according to a study conducted by Amy Smith and Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. When shown angry human faces, the horses looked more with the left eye, which allows the right brain hemisphere to process threatening stimuli. (Dogs have also been shown to have a tendency to use the left eye when viewing negative human facial expressions.) The horses heart rates also increased more quickly, and they exhibited more stress-related behaviors, when shown the angry human expressions. In this context, recognizing angry faces may act as a warning system, allowing horses to anticipate negative human behavior such as rough handling, Smith said in a press release. There are several possible explanations for our findings, added McComb. Horses may have adapted an ancestral ability for reading emotional cues in other horses to respond appropriately to human facial expressions during their co-evolution. Alternatively, individual horses may have learned to interpret human expressions during their own lifetime, she explained. For more, go to "The Story of the Horse."
http://www.archaeology.org/news/4146-160211-horses-human-emotions
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The Story of the Horse:
http://www.archaeology.org/issues/180-1507/features/3345-the-horse-through-history
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)I spent the day before I took him home in a stall with him just letting each of us get aquainted. He hadn't been fed in days so I stole some alfalfa from another stall and fed him.
Months later when I would smile at him he would come over to me and lay his head on my shoulder as best he could.
Wilms
(26,795 posts)I spent an hour with one while visiting his trainer. He was very responsive. "All there" is best I can say it. It was a neat experience.
hunter
(38,317 posts)... and those who don't are probably not that respectful of their fellow humans either.