Goats are very intelligent animals; you’ll know this if you’ve ever owned a goat or spent a lot of time with one!
You might notice that they all sound a little bit different.
Does this mean they all have different accents?
As humans grow up and change, so do our voices.
According to biologists, a similar thing happens to goats too!
The University of London conducted a study to see if a group of 23 baby goats (kids) changed their voice.
They recorded and noted the kids bleating at one week old, then separated them into groups of 6 and 7.
Then again at five weeks old, they recorded their voices.
They discovered that the baby goats all started to sound similar.
This means they had picked up on the sounds each of them was making and copied each other!
Of course, genetics plays a part in how individual goats sound.
Yet biologists think that goats have different accents to distinguish different social groups.
In the wild, goats live in large groups.
Therefore, it is thought that accents act as a ‘members badge’.
Accents will help groups identify other members, find one another if lost and unify the group.
Do goats have regional accents?
Studies have shown that dogs have regional accents.
So, it is interesting to know that goats from different places have different accents too!
For example, a goat in England would have a different accent from one in America.
This is exactly the same as humans!
Can goats with different accents understand each other?
So, we now know different goat trips (groups) have different accents.
But can they understand each other?
They do in fact understand each other!
The baby goats involved in the University of London’s accent study were full siblings and half-siblings.
As we said previously, the kids were split into groups.
Each group included some full siblings and some half-siblings.
The biologists expected the full siblings to sound the same and the half-siblings to sound different from them.
This might have been the case the first time they recorded the goats.
But when they recorded the kids again at 5 weeks, each of the groups sounded the same.
Genetics do play a small role in this study.
But the half-siblings managed to pick up the same accent as the full siblings.
This then proves that goats can pick up accents from a young age.
Interestingly, goats aren’t the only animals that learn different accents.
Us humans do this too.
We learn how to speak from our parents.
Then if we move somewhere with a different accent, we pick it up subconsciously.
Other animals that do this include whales and bats!
What noise does a goat make?
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you won’t have seen the screaming goat phenomenon that has taken over a small corner of the internet.
Humans are obsessed with goats!
More specifically, the sounds they make.
Often a goat’s sound can be described as a human screaming.
But, in actual fact, the noise a goat makes is called bleating.
It is a ‘maa’ sound rather than a ‘baa’ sound like its cousin the sheep.
Just like humans, each goat has a different-sounding voice.
So, bleating can vary in pitch.
Some goats bleat quietly and some bleat loud and deep.
The pitch of a goat’s bleat can change over time.
The older they get, the deeper their voice becomes.
How do goats communicate with each other?
Communicating is a huge part of human and animal life.
Especially for social animals such as goats.
Although it is not completely understood what goats are ‘talking’ about exactly, there are a few things we do understand.
As we discussed earlier, goats communicate with each other through bleating.
Scientists found that when a mother has a kid, she will bleat at them all the time.
This is to make sure they stay close and keep out of trouble.
It is thought that the kid will recognize its mother’s voice only a few hours after birth.
Another way goat communicate with each other is through sneezing.
If a goat sneezes it is likely it feels threatened or in danger.
The goat will sneeze to alert other goats of the possible danger.
During another interesting study, biologists recorded a trip of goats.
They recorded the noises they made when they were happy (eating) and when they were unhappy (watching others eat).
The scientists noticed a distinct change in noises but did the goats?
They later played these sounds back to the goats and they noticed the goats reacted to the sounds.
When they played the positive sounds, they monitored that the goat’s heart rate elevated! T
he biologists recorded that goats could recognize emotions through their sounds.
This is similar to dogs and even humans!
Can goats communicate with humans?
Humans think goats are adorable and many would love one as a pet. Yet people can still be discouraged to have one.
This is because they think goats can’t understand us like other domesticated animals. However, this is not always true.
Scientists at the Queen Mary University in London held an experiment to see if goats can communicate with humans. They discovered that goats are actually as intelligent as dogs when it comes to communicating!
Dogs communicate with their eyes when they need their problems solved. For example, if a treat was in a high up place and the dog could not reach it, they would look to their owner for help.
Domesticated goats will do the exact same thing! It is interesting to know that only a few species have this skill. Only horses, dogs and goats can do this. Cats have not learnt this yet!
Do goats recognise their names when humans call them?
Much like other domesticated animals, goats will learn their name if you train them to do so.
Training a goat to recognise their name is like how you would train a dog.
To start, you would choose a treat to give your pet. Raisins will work well.
Next, stand away from your goat and call their name. When they respond to you by coming to you, give them the treat.
You should repeat this routine every day for 15 minutes.
As well as this, you could call their name when they aren’t expecting you to. If they come to you, you would reward them with a pat on the head or by stroking them.
They will soon learn they will not get a treat every time they respond to you.
This is an effective way of training your goat.
Goats are fast learners so they will learn their name in no time!
What other animals have accents?
Goats are not the only animals that have accents. Here is a list of a few other animals that have regional accents!
- Whales
- Dolphins
- Bats
- Humans
- Birds (parrots, songbirds, hummingbirds)
- Cows
- Dogs
During this article we have learnt that goats are incredibly intelligent.
In fact, they are as clever as dogs when it comes to communicating with humans!
Not only do goats have different accents but they can understand each other’s emotions too.
How animals perceive the world is mostly still a mystery to humans.
We do not fully know how these animals understand and communicate with one another.
I’m sure that there is still a lot to learn about these wonderful animals but by what we can see already, we underestimate how clever they truly are!
More in Sounds
- Do Goats Have Accents?
- What Sound Does A Goat Make?
- Why Do Goats Snort?
- Why Do Goats Scream?