Researchers have discovered that horses move their eyes and ears as a way to communicate with one another.
To make this discovery, the scientists had to look outside of the box and explore previously unchartered territories.
Said one, “Our study is the first to examine a potential cue to attention that humans do not have – the ears. Previous work investigating communication of attention in animals has focused on cues that human use such as head orientation and eye gaze.”
This study also marks the first time sight lines as a means of disclosure has been investigated in animals with eyes on the sides of their heads.
The tests involved taking photographs of horses as they looked at buckets of food.
In some the eyes were masked and in others the ears were hidden. There were also photos with either both or none concealed.
Photos were blown up to life size and presented to the horses. Baskets of food were placed according to the eye and ear direction cues in the pictures.
In instances where the live horses were able to see the gaze and the ear position of the photographed ones, they had a higher success rate in locating the indicated baskets.
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