Sheep IQ

Sheep are intelligent loyal animals with superb memory and recognition skills. Scientific research has proven the brilliance of sheep.


A study of sheep psychology has proven sheep can remember the faces of more than 50 other sheep for up to two years. They can recognize a familiar human face also. They may be nearly as good as people at distinguishing faces in a crowd. 
Researchers say, "Sheep form individual friendships with one another, which may last for a few weeks. It's possible they may think about a face even when it's not there." The researchers also found female sheep had a definite opinion about what made a ram's face attractive.


"Sheep showed clear behavioural signs of recognising… individuals by vocalising in response to their face pictures," says Kendrick. The team also found evidence that sheep can differentiate facial expressions, and prefer a smile to a frown.

Keith Kendrick and his team at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England, studied sheep's ability to distinguish and remember faces of both other sheep and humans. 

Presenting 20 sheep with pictures of 25 pairs of sheep faces, the researchers trained the animals to associate one of the pair with a food reward. They determined that the sheep could recognize the individuals associated with a reward even in profile and for up to two years. By measuring activity in the right temporal and medial frontal corticesregions of the ovine brain associated with visual recognition the team further discovered that sheep can remember as many as 50 sheep faces in addition to a familiar human face. And sightings of familiar faces do not go unacknowledged. The scientists report "clear behavioral signs of recognizing both absent individuals by vocalizing in response to their face pictures in the same way as they did to faces of other members of their current social circle.

Biologists from Utah State University performed research that indicates sheep can pick the right drug to cure sickness.

Lambs were given food and mild poisons  either grains, tannins or oxalic acid that made them unwell. The lambs were then given something to eat that would cure their symptoms either sodium bentonite, polyethylene glycol or dicalcium phosphate. A control group of lambs was offered the restorative medicines only after they had recovered.

After this learning process, lambs were given food containing one of the three substances that had disagreed with them, and a choice of the three medicines. The only lambs to show a preference were those that had learned which medicine would cure them, a preference that persisted for at least five months (Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.09.012).

According to researchers in Australia, sheep can learn and remember. Researchers have developed a complex maze test to measure intelligence and learning in sheep. Using the maze, researchers have proven sheep have excellent spatial memory and are able to learn and improve their performance. They can retain this information for a six-week period. 


Incredibly greedy sheep on the Yorkshire Moors  taught themselves to roll 8 feet across hoof-proof metal cattle grids to raid villagers' valley gardens.

Sheep  have erotic preferences  8 % are homosexual, making them one of the few species that show lifelong preferences for same-sex partners.

Researchers from the University of California observed rams for three years and discovered that they established firm friendships and looked out for one another in times of need.