Horses can use symbols to talk to us
By Virginia Morell
There will never be a horse like Mr. Ed, the talking equine TV
star. But scientists have discovered that the animals can learn to use
another human tool for communicating: pointing to symbols. They join a
short list of other species, including some primates, dolphins, and
pigeons, with this talent. Scientists taught 23 riding horses of various
breeds to look at a display board with three icons, representing
wearing or not wearing a blanket. Horses could choose between a “no
change” symbol or symbols for “blanket on” or “blanket off.” Previously,
their owners made this decision for them. Horses are adept at learning
and following signals people give them, and it took these equines an
average of 10 days to learn to approach and touch the board and to
understand the meaning of the symbols. All 23 horses learned the entire
task within 14 days. They were then tested in various weather conditions
to see whether they could use the board to tell their trainers about
their blanket preferences. The scientists report online in Applied Animal Behaviour Science that the horses did not touch the symbols randomly,
but made their choices based on the weather. If it was wet, cold, and
windy, they touched the "blanket on" icon; horses that were already
wearing a blanket nosed the “no change” image. But when the weather was
sunny, the animals touched the "blanket off" symbol; those that weren’t
blanketed pressed the “no change” icon. The study’s strong results show
that the horses understood the consequences of their choices, say the
scientists, who hope that other researchers will use their method to ask
horses more questions.
doi:10.1126/science.aah7335
