Researchers find that young goats can develop accents
February 16th, 2012 - 10:49 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattLondon, Feb 16 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Researchers have reported that young goats develop accent based on the group they are in. The study raises the possibility that animals have higher accents than previously thought.
The research was carried out by researchers from the Queen Mary, University of London. The study was conducted on pigmy goats who were studied over a period of several weeks.
The researchers used four groups in the study. The sounds of the herds were recorded with tiny microphones as the young goats grew. It was initially observed that as the kids stayed with the mothers and the other siblings, the used the aound of the group. However, as they grew other and joined other young goats called “creches,” their accents changed to reflect that of the new group.
The researchers concluded that the finding is confirmation that goats develop their accents based on the environment they are in rather than their genes.
Co author of the study Dr Elodie Briefer revealed that, “Goats have a very limited vocal repertoire, they only have a couple of types of call. But yet we found these variations, which suggests they may be a lot more intelligent than we thought.”
The study and the resulting findings were published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
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Tags: accent, animal behaviour, animals, co author, confirmation, elodie, genes, herds, london feb, microphones, pigmy goats, queen mary university, queen mary university of london, siblings, university of london, variations, vocal repertoire