- Lonely sheep, like lonely people, are much happier when
they see pictures of friends and family, according to a study published
yesterday.
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- A group at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge has found
that the sight of a friendly face reduces stress in sheep.
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- The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the Royal
Society: Biological Sciences, could point to the reason that many of us
carry pictures of loved ones.
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- In the case of the sheep, "seeing a face picture
of a friend or family member would be the most effective way of reducing
separation anxiety", said Prof Keith Kendrick, who led the study.
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- "In this sense sheep may provide a comparison with
us carrying around pictures of loved ones in our wallets, handbags and
so on," he said, adding that children might find comfort from carrying
around a photo of their parents.
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- In the study, Prof Kendrick and colleagues put sheep
into a darkened barn on their own and showed them various faces, while
recording their behaviour.
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- Stress was measured by monitoring the number of times
each sheep bleated, its movement within the barn and its heart rate.
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- Blood samples were taken to measure the levels of cortisol
and adrenaline, hormones which are both chemical indicators of stress.
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- When the sheep were shown faces of sheep familiar to
them, they became less stressed and showed fewer signs of agitation than
when they were shown goat faces or triangles. The areas of the brain which
control fear and the stress response also showed reduced activation.
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- All of the indicators of stress measured during the test
showed significant reductions.
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- These results provide evidence that face pictures may
be useful for relieving stress caused by unavoidable social isolation in
sheep, and possibly other animal species, including humans.
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- Prof Kendrick has found that sheep, while apparently
ruminating mindlessly, could be dwelling on long-absent flock mates, mothers
or even shepherds.
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- Sheep can remember at least 50 sheep faces, even in profile.
The animals can also remember 10 or more familiar human faces.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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