No kidding: goats prove brainier than sheep and alpacas

shutterstock Dudarev Mikhail/Shutterstock

When we think about intelligent animals, farm species aren’t usually the first to spring to mind. We may picture tool-using primates or puzzle-solving crows. But my recent research suggests that sheep, goats and alpacas – staples of the barnyard – deserve more credit.

In two separate studies, I tested how these animals learn, remember and make sense of the world around them. The findings reveal not only that we’ve underestimated their cognitive abilities...