Mar. 25 – The chimpanzee, dolphin, elephant, and crow are some of the most intelligent animals on earth. But they’re not the only ones. Horses joined the group because of their capacity to understand and follow commands imparted upon them, but only when it suits them. This emerged in a research conducted by researchers from the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Pisa, which for the first time showed that horses, contrary to what had been previously documented in scientific literature, have evolved cognitive abilities and short term memory. The study, carried out by Paolo Baragli and Claudio Sighieri in collaboration with the Paola Lovrovich of the Italian Horse Protection Association, published its findings in the latest issue of “Applied Animal Behaviour Science.” The research began with a test conducted on 24 horses divided into two groups. In both cases, the animals had three identical buckets placed upside down in front of them and had to guess under which there was a carrot. But in one scenario, they had to find the carrot without any indication or help, while in the other, they saw a person approach the bucket, hide the carrot and then leave. “During the test, the horses – explained Paolo Baragli – demonstrated the ability to change their search strategy to achieve their goal, eating the carrot, in the shortest possible time, regardless of clues provided by us.” In other words, the horses in the group that saw a person hide the carrot used this indication and were more precise, finding the right bucket but taking longer to do so. With the succession of tests, the animals changed strategy and became less accurate but faster, looking into all buckets sure they would eventually find a carrot. (Red)
