Other researchers have determined a “common genetic programming” across species, Merkies said. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 65-plus, came from eight different countries and spoke a variety of languages, prompting a thought for Merkies: “Do horses speak English? Do horses have dialects?” “We wanted to know if people could distinguish was the horse happy or upset,” Merkies explained. Listening to the audio clips, the survey’s respondents were directed to rate the horse’s arousal level on a scale of one to 100, or “calm” to “very excited.” Do horses speak English? Mira and Mojo, U of G research horses, with Dr. On average, most respondents were able to differentiate between the vocalizations the horses made, regardless of their equine knowledge or experience. “But interestingly, that wasn’t the case.” “You would expect people who are familiar with horses to better understand the vocalizations,” she said. What the participants relayed to the researchers was a little surprising, Merkies said. Through an online survey, more than 300 respondents with varying familiarity with horses listened to 32 audio clips of the animals “talking,” involving different breeds, ages and sexes. Genetic programming across species enables a shared language With graduate student Haley Belliveau, Merkies expanded on her previous research on horse blinks to gauge whether the average human could discern positive or negative emotions in a horse’s verbal expression. Katrina Merkies, professor in the Department of Animal Biosciences, studies horse behaviour, welfare, equitation science and management at the Ontario Agricultural College. The answer, it turns out, is that humans are attuned to what a horse is saying and through the pitch and tone of their whinny, or neigh, can better understand whether the animal is content or upset.ĭr. That question posed the basis of new research from the University of Guelph suggesting the sound a horse makes – their whinny – contains nuances that humans can pick up on. When horses talk, how well are humans listening?
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