Goats excel at learning and remembering a highly novel cognitive task

Goats learn how to solve complicated tasks quickly and can recall how to perform them for at least 10 months. Scientists trained a group of goats to retrieve food from a box using a linked sequence of steps; first by pulling a lever with their mouths and then by lifting it to release the reward.

The goats' ability to remember the task was tested after one month and again at 10 months. They learned the task within 12 trials and took less than two minutes to remember the challenge.

This is the first time that scientists have investigated how goats learn complex physical cognition tasks, which could explain why they are so adaptable to harsh environments and good at foraging for plants in the wild, for example.

 

Articles: http://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-9994-11-20

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140326092629.htm