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Long faces aside, horses may be more expressive than we thought.

According to a new study, horses use a wide range of facial expressions as social cues – much like humans do. Researchers have identified 17 discrete movements, many of which are also used by humans, despite obvious differences in facial structure. They published their findings Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

It’s no secret that human emotion is inextricably tied to facial expression. But facial expression in the animal world is significantly understudied, says Karen McComb, lead author and professor of animal cognition at the University of Sussex. Until recently, systematic studies on the subject were few and far between – and those tended to focus on non-human primates.

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Because equine facial structure is so different than primate facial structure, scientists had overlooked horses as candidates for this sort of communication. But as highly visual and socially complex animals, they are actually well suited for facial expression study, says Dr. McComb.

Benevolent Thomas

Aug 9 2015, 05:32 AM

I hate horses. I think they're all malevolent beings. Ironic considering I'm a bit of a cowboy on NS :p