Feb 02, 2020 19:00:00

What is the secret hidden in the cow's “mo-mo” cry?

by

Cally Lawson

Past research has shown that goats also make eye contact and that animals other than humans also perform complex communication . 'The cow's cry has its own personality and emotion.'

Vocal individuality of Holstein-Friesian cattle is maintained across putatively positive and negative farming contexts | Scientific Reports
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-54968-4

Stand out from the herd: how cows commooonicate through their lives-The University of Sydney
https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/12/19/stand-out-from-herd-how-cows-communicate.html

A cow's moo is unique way of saying hi, finds University of Sydney study
https://www.smh.com.au/national/here-is-the-moos-study-finds-cow-s-lows-are-unique-way-of-saying-hi-20191217-p53kof.html

An Australian Researcher Is Linking Cow Moos and Moods-Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cows-have-unique-voices

Standing in front of a herd of cows with a shotgun microphone and headset is Alexandra Green, a PhD student at the University of Sydney Faculty of Environmental Science.

Green's motivation for this study came from a

2016 study that found that mother and calf are calling each other with their own voices. `` Even if you are not a parent and child, cows should communicate by exchanging calls '' Mr. Green thought that Holstein Friesian, who has been raised on a university campus for five months, is a heifer The voice of 13 cows was recorded. According to Green, 'they can't produce milk because they haven't had a baby yet, just like a teenager girl in the cow world.'

Green, who spends time with cows on the ranch on the campus, said, 'My friends and family seemed to be a little funny.' Worth ( Pad ) Partly, we were able to record 333 calls of cows called 'high frequency utterances'. Also, in that case, not only `` which individual made the cry '' but also `` positive '' situation such as when you can find delicious food, `` negative '' such as when you have left other cows Was recorded.

Then, we analyzed the data of cow's call using two methods:

oscillograph and spectrogram . The results showed that cattle behaved differently in positive and negative situations. The figure below shows the analysis results. The upper row shows 'positive voices trying to eat delicious food' and the lower row shows 'negative voices when food was not obtained'. If you look at the top oscillograph waveform in each figure, you can see at a glance that there is a significant difference in the audio waveform.

In addition, Mr. Green conducted further analysis and found that the cows used the same tone when they sang in any situation, and the tone was different for each individual. Green says of this result: 'The cows not only transmitted their emotions through the bark, but also had a personality in the voice. It is very likely that the herd of cows could identify each other through the bark. It ’s expensive. ”

Also, Professor Cameron Clark of the University of Sydney, co-author of the dissertation and coach of Green's research, said, 'The research of Ally (Green) has been really inspiring. It was only known that the cow's voice had a personality, but this discovery has confirmed that the personality of the cow's call has been an identity in the herd throughout his life. '' Commented.

Green says he hopes to use the findings in this study to improve animal welfare and productivity in dairy farming.