Horses and pigs, according to recent research, can understand human speech. These changes may be recognized by domesticated pigs and horses, as well as Asian wild horses.
“Our findings suggest that the emotions we charge our voices with when we talk to them or around them have an impact on the animals,” said Elodie Briefer, a behavioral scientist at the University of Copenhagen.
The research published in the journal “BMC Biology” included scientists from Zurich and Berlin. The researchers used hidden speakers to play recordings of animal noises and human speech for their investigation.
To prevent the test animals from reacting to certain words, the human recordings came from a professional speaker reciting a kind of gibberish without meaningful sentences.
What’s the end result? When talked to with a negatively charged voice, the animals reacted more aggressively – and typically faster – than when spoken to with a positively charged voice. “People even seem to mirror the feelings they are experiencing in some situations,” Briefer said.
The animals’ reactions showed that how humans speak to and around them had an influence on their happiness. According to the statement, “it suggests that human voices have a direct influence on the emotional state of the animals,” which is “quite interesting from an animal welfare perspective.” The animals would grow calmer and more relaxed if they were spoken to in a nice manner.
