阅读理解
According to new research from the University of
Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs.
The farm animals, who are social and have large brains,
were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans.
However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.
The recent study, the results of which were published
in the journal Royal Society: Open Science. Show the woolly creatures could be trained
to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack
Obama and actress Emma Watson.
Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain
images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the image
for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces
shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent –
the same rate at which a human's ability to perform the same task declines.
"Anyone who has spent time working with sheep
will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who are able to recognize
their handlers," said Professor Jenny Morton, who led the Cambridge study.
"We've shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities,
comparable with those of humans and monkeys."
Recognizing faces is one of the most important social
skills for human being, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington's
disease, affect this ability.
"Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are
similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be
useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington's
disease, that develop over a long time and affect cognitive abilities. Our study
gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change," Morton said.