Goats Recognise Their Kids' Voices

A mother goat is able to pick out her own baby from its voice alone by the time the kid is just five days old.

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London played recordings of kids' bleats to female goats and studied their responses.

They report their findings in the journal Animal Cognition.

Dr Elodie Briefer, who led the research, was surprised to find that the animals were able to pick out their own kids' voices.

"A mother and kid rely a lot on smell to recognise one another and, in the wild, during the first week of their lives, the animals hide in vegetation and don't call much. It's a strategy they use to avoid predators," she explained to BBC News. Read the full report here.

Source: by Victoria Gill, Science and nature reporter, BBC News, U.K.