Goats aren't generally counted among the smartest animals on the planet, considered more likely to use their heads to knock over small children than to get any serious thinking done. But a new study on goat intelligence proves that the animals are actually much brainier than we've been giving them credit for.
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London conducted an experiment in which goats were trained to unlock food from a box by performing a series of actions -- pulling a lever with their mouths, then lifting it to retrieve the tasty reward.
Not only did the animals learn the task fairly quickly, taking about a dozen trials to master it, they devoted it to memory.
The group of goats were asked to perform the test after one month, then once more after 10 months. On both occasions, they remembered the challenge well enough to solve it again in a matter of minutes.
"Our results challenge the common misconception that goats aren't intelligent animals - they have the ability to learn complex tasks and remember them for a long time," says study co-author Alan McElligott.
"This could explain why they are so successful in colonizing new environments, though we would need to perform a similar study with wild goats to be sure."
While this may be one the first formal studies on the intelligence of goats, people who keep the animals have already taken note that the they're are no dullards. A quick search for "smart goat" on YouTube reveals dozens of videos of goats exhibiting quite remarkable problem-solving skills.
Here, a goat named Randy outsmarts the sliding lock on a barn door:
More complex deadbolt locks take a bit more finesse, but are no match for this clever goat:
And finally, here's a goat who has figured out how to pull up a rope with a cup of food tied to it:
