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Science
Jun 17, 2026
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Goats Can Locate Food by Following Human Voices, Study Finds

AI Summary
Researchers at the University of Zürich discovered that goats can use the direction of a human voice to find hidden food, achieving a 60% success rate when the voice pointed toward the treat. The findings suggest a vocal pointing ability previously seen only in dogs and may illuminate cognitive changes linked to domestication.

Goats Demonstrate Human‑Voice Pointing Ability

In a series of controlled experiments, goats were shown to follow the direction of an unseen human’s voice to locate a treat, performing significantly better than chance when the voice was directed toward the food.

Experimental Design and Procedure

  • Researchers placed two buckets on either side of a wooden screen.
  • Goats were familiarised with the setup by calling them by name while visibly placing food in one bucket.
  • During test trials, a hidden researcher placed uncooked pasta in one bucket and then either spoke excitedly toward the baited bucket, remained silent, or spoke with their back to the screen.
  • Each of the 29 goats completed 12 trials each.

Performance Metrics and Statistical Findings

  • When the researcher spoke toward the treat, goats moved to the correct bucket 60% of the time.
  • When the researcher was silent, success dropped to 47%, essentially chance level.
  • When the researcher spoke away from both buckets, success was 49%, also near chance.

Implications for Domestication and Animal Cognition

The ability to follow vocal cues has been documented in dogs but not in chimpanzees, suggesting a possible link to domestication. Prof Simon Townsend and Dr Stuart Watson note that the results may shed light on the cognitive shifts that made species more compatible with human environments, with potential relevance for animal welfare.

Future Research Directions

The authors propose testing wild goat populations to determine whether the skill is innate or a product of domestication, and to explore whether animals attend to the direction of each other’s vocalisations.