Learning from eavesdropping on human-human encounters changes feeding location choice in horses (Equus Caballus)

Area of Science:

• Animal behavior
• Interspecies communication
• Social learning

Background:

• Animals can learn from human signals through intentional communication.
• Animals may also learn by observing unintentional information transfer during human-human interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if horses learn feeding strategies by observing human-human demonstrations.
• To determine if social housing influences horses' adaptation to observed human interactions.

Main Methods:

• 17 horses observed human-human interactions at a feeding location.
• Horses' feeding location preferences were recorded before and after observations.
• Comparison of learning in socially housed versus individually housed horses.

Main Results:

• 12 of 17 horses changed their feeding preference after observing human approval.
• Socially housed horses showed higher adaptation rates than individually housed horses.
• Observed preferences persisted even when demonstrators were absent.

Conclusions:

• Horses demonstrate social learning by eavesdropping on human interactions.
• Social experience, particularly housing conditions, may impact observational learning.
• This highlights potential unintentional long-term impacts of human interactions on animal behavior.