The goats followed the sound — and found some pasta

This does not mean that goats understand human speech in the same way as humans do. They did not make out individual words or ‘translate’ phrases. But they were able to detect the direction of the voice — almost as if a person were pointing not with a finger, but with a sound.

The study was published in *Royal Society Open Science*.

Twenty-nine goats took part in the experiment, and under the right conditions, they chose the bucket containing a treat in around 60 per cent of cases.

Details

The scientists set the goats a simple task: there were two red buckets, with food hidden behind one of them. The goats could not see where the food had been placed.

A person sat behind a screen. Sometimes they spoke in the direction of the bucket containing the food. Sometimes they remained silent. And sometimes they spoke away from both buckets.

When the person spoke in the direction of the correct bucket, the goats were more likely to go there. When he remained silent, the result was almost random — around 47 per cent. When he spoke in the direction away from the buckets, the result was also almost random — around 49 per cent.

Raw pasta was used as a treat. So a very simple version of the experiment goes like this: the goat heard a voice, went in the right direction and found the pasta.

Why this is interesting

Many animals react to sounds. For example, they hear an alarm or the sound of food.

But this is different. The goats reacted not simply to the voice itself, but to its direction. In other words, they used the voice as a cue: ‘it seems the food is over there’.

One of the study’s authors called this a ‘vocal pointing cue’. Usually, a person points with their finger. But in this case, the cue was not a hand, but a voice.

What do dogs and chimpanzees have to do with it?

Previously, this ability had been observed in dogs and young children. However, chimpanzees performed less well in similar tasks.

That is why the goats surprised the scientists in this respect. They are not domestic pets like dogs, but have lived alongside humans for thousands of years. Perhaps their long history of domestication has helped them to interpret human signals more effectively.

Why this is important

The study shows that animals we tend to regard as ‘simple farm animals’ may be far more attuned to people.

Goats have previously shown sensitivity to human gestures, emotions in the voice and facial expressions. This new study adds another finding: they can orient themselves towards the direction of a human voice.

This is important for more than just curiosity’s sake. The better people understand how animals perceive us, the easier it is to interact with them in a calmer, more understandable and safer way — on farms, in animal shelters and when caring for animals.

Background

Goats are among the oldest domesticated animals. People have long used them for milk, meat, wool and farm work.

But for a long time, scientists’ attention was more often focused on dogs, horses, primates and dolphins. Goats seemed less obvious candidates for research into social intelligence.

Now, however, there is a growing body of such research. And it shows that goats do not simply ‘chew and stare’. They observe, remember, respond to humans and can use human behaviour to solve problems.

Source

Study: Stuart K. Watson et al., “Domestic goats can follow the direction of human voices to solve a hidden-object task”, Royal Society Open Science, 2026.