On December 12, Dr. Moenami Ringhofer and Associate Professor Shinya Yamamoto of the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Kobe University used visual and tactile signals to draw human attention when faced with problems that horses could not solve. Revealed to ask for help.Furthermore, it was suggested that the required behavior for humans should be changed according to the state of knowledge of humans.
For animals, understanding the condition of other individuals and obtaining information on feeding grounds and predators is considered to be useful for their own survival.As for horses, it is possible that the high level of social cognitive ability of horses for humans may be related to the fact that they have established the current cooperative relationship with humans.However, scientific verification of social cognitive abilities regarding horses has not progressed much.
In this study, we examined the social cognitive ability of horses in communication with humans by promoting the expression of action from horses to humans by using a method of hiding food in places where horses cannot reach and humans can reach.
In Experiment 1, we first hid food in a bucket that was out of reach of horses.After that, when a breeder who did not know this situation came, I observed what kind of behavior the horse would do to the breeder.As a result, the horse stayed close to the person in charge and took actions such as staring at, touching, and pushing the person in charge of breeding.It is said that this behavior occurred more than when the experiment was conducted without hiding the food.From this result, it became clear that horses send visual and tactile signals to humans when faced with problems that cannot be solved by themselves.
In Experiment 2, we examined whether the horse's required behavior changes depending on whether the breeder knows the existence of hidden food.As a result, it was found that when the breeder did not see the process of hiding food, it sent a signal more than it did.From this result, it was shown that the horse can change the required behavior according to the knowledge state of the breeder regarding the existence of food.
From these experimental results, the details of required behavior, which is communication from horses to humans, were clarified.In addition, it has found the possibility of having high social cognitive ability.In the future, we aim to clarify the social cognitive ability of horses in communication with humans in more detail while comparing with communication between horses.
