Adult goats behaviour: Use of shapes and colours

Abstract

Goats have adapted well to the environment, among other factors due to their sensory development and have a field of vision like other ruminants 320-340º. They are known to be farsighted and lack precision in image depth. They are dichromats, characterized by two types of cones, and can perceive purple and greenish yellow. In the wild, these animals face a large number of stimuli and challenges that require them to have good adaptive capacities. However, in captivity they may suffer from boredom or frustration, leading to stereotypes. In this study, we have analyzed the interest shown by a group of adult goats, some of them reared in artificial lactation and others in natural conditions, when subjected to six new objects of different shape and colour. The pen was divided into three areas: areas of no interest, areas of medium interest and areas of maximum interest, and the time spent in each area was timed, as was the number of contacts with the object and the time of that contact. They were subjected to each object for three minutes in a total of three attempts, which were recorded for later analysis. Overall, the goats showed a marked preference for the purple colour due to the frequency with which they approached it, and the time spent touching it. The goats showed differences not only in the time spent interacting with the objects but also in the frequency with which they touched them, highlighting their ability to differentiate stimuli based on the characteristics of the object.