When talking to animals, don’t get HORSE!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
It seems some people can communicate with animals. But what are our furry friends really responding to?
Enter Anne-Laure Maigrot and colleagues from E-T-H Zurich. They had domesticated and wild pigs and horses listen to recorded vocalizations.
These noises came from their own species, related animals, and humans! In all cases, the recordings were either positive or negative in tone. Human recordings contained gibberish so animals wouldn’t respond to familiar words.
Results?
All animals EXCEPT the wild pigs responded more quickly to negative tones! In addition, they responded less strongly to human voices than to noises from other animals.
Researchers believe the pattern lies in how related the species of the listener and noisemaker are. And, whether they’re domesticated. BUT, they might also be able to respond to HUMAN emotions, and be affected themselves!
All that said, can you ask them to fix my sour mood? When pigs fly!
Reference: Maigrot, A.-L., E. Hillmann, and E. F. Briefer. 2022. Cross-species discrimination of vocal expression of emotional valence by Equidae and Suidae. BMC biology 20:106.