Why The Long Face? Horses Can Recognise Human Emotion

A horse walks into a bar and the barman asks: “Why the long face?”

Amazingly, the sentence above might not be a joke any more, after scientists found that horses can recognise human emotions.

Researchers found that the animals can tell the difference between happy and angry facial expressions in humans.

Horses were shown photographs of different male human faces in the study carried out by the University of Sussex.

It was discovered that the animals “responded negatively” to angry expressions.

According to the study, published in the journal Biology Letters, horses have adapted to human behaviour because of domestication.

A total of 28 horses were presented with photos of people at riding stables.

When they looked at angry human faces, the horses exhibited behaviour associated with perceiving negative stimuli. Their heart rate also increased and they were more stressed.

Amy Smith, a doctoral student in the Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research Group at the University of Sussex, said: “What’s really interesting about this research is that it shows that horses have the ability to read emotions across the species barrier.

“We have known for a long time that horses are a socially sophisticated species but this is the first time we have seen that they can distinguish between positive and negative human facial expressions.

“The reaction to the angry facial expressions was particularly clear – there was a quicker increase in their heart rate, and the horses moved their heads to look at the angry faces with their left eye.”

“It’s interesting to note that the horses had a strong reaction to the negative expressions but less so to the positive.

“This may be because it is particularly important for animals to recognise threats in their environment.

“In this context, recognising angry faces may act as a warning system, allowing horses to anticipate negative human behaviour such as rough handling.”

(Picture: Thinkstock)