綿羊記憶力驚人 看照片認出夥伴

Sheep are so smart that they could make "executive decisions". They can also remember friends as long as two years and can recall faces of human beings or other sheep when looking at photographs, University of Cambridge scientists said.

綿羊非常聰明，甚至可以做出“行政決策”。而劍橋大學的科學家宣稱，綿羊還能記住兩年前的朋友，並在看照片時能回憶起認識的面孔（不管這些面孔時人的還是羊的）。

Sheep can also pass psychological tests that monkeys would fail, according to researcher Laura Avanzo and her colleague Jennifer Morton. They placed pairs of different colored buckets in front of sheep; with one containing food each time. They switched the food from bucket to bucket, while also alternating the colors and, eventually, changing the shapes of the buckets.

研究員勞拉阿萬佐和同事珍妮弗莫頓的研究表明，綿羊能通過猴子都經常會失敗的心理測試。它們在綿羊面前依次放置成對的不同顏色的桶，每次有一個桶中盛有食物。然後他們將食物從一個桶中移入另一個桶中，同時還改變桶的顏色，最後改變桶的形狀。

The sheep learnt to recognize different patterns in colors and changed their behavior according to the pattern they were looking at. They also altered their behavior based on the various shapes placed in front of them. Only humans and other primates find these kind of responses easy; most other large animals struggle with them, the scientists said.

綿羊學着認出了不同的顏色組合，並根據顏色組合的不同改變行爲，它們還會根據桶的形狀的變化改變行爲。科學家說，一般只有人類和其他靈長類動物能作出這類反應，其他大型動物要做到時很困難的。

Avanzo and Morton believe this is because sheep, like many humans, behave differently when in a flock compared to when alone. Morton said: "Sheep live in a flock, and in a flock they’re rather silly. When you work with them as individuals, they behave very differently."

阿萬佐和莫頓認爲，綿羊和人類一樣，在身處羣體和獨處時的表現會有所不同。莫頓說：“綿羊一般是羣居，羣居時它們比較笨拙。當你讓它們單獨行動時，它們的表現就會有所不同。”