- Humans can tell if chickens are excited or upset by their clucking alone
- The study reveals that 69% of people can classify calls correctly
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Whether it's a cat purring or a dog wagging its tail, some animals show their emotions in obvious ways.
But humans can tell whether chickens are excited or upset by their pecks alone, according to a new study.
The researchers recorded the sounds made by chickens that heard a beep and received a treat, as well as those who heard a beep but did not get any treat.
Next, nearly 200 participants were asked to listen to the clucks and rate them, indicating how happy or unhappy they were with the chickens, as well as how excited they felt.
The analysis revealed that more than two-thirds of people – 69% – were able to classify the calls correctly.
Whether it's a cat purring or a dog wagging its tail, some animals show their emotions in obvious ways. But humans can tell if chickens are excited or upset by their clucking alone, according to a new study (stock image)
The results, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, revealed that two types of gurgling were produced in anticipation of a reward – the 'food' call and the 'fast cluck'.
At the same time, two other call types, “whine” and “jackle,” were produced in a non-reward context.
Food calls and rapid clicks tended to be shorter while whines were hesitant, and high-frequency calls and jackals were harsher, the researchers said.
The analysis also found that there did not appear to be any advantage for participants who had previous experience handling chickens, compared to those who had no experience at all.
The researchers, from the University of Queensland's School of Veterinary Science, said the ability to detect emotional information from gurgling could improve the welfare of farmed chickens.
“The prevailing finding of this study that a large proportion of participants were successfully able to recognize calls produced in reward-related contexts has important implications for the welfare of farmed chickens,” they said.
“It provides confidence that people involved in raising chickens can recognize the emotional state of the birds they are caring for, even if they have no previous experience.
“In future research, rewarded and non-rewarded vocalizations could be considered reliable ‘markers’ of internal states, allowing the development of automatic assessments of good or compromised welfare states within poultry management systems.”
(Tags for translation) Daily Mail