Sheep Move Toward Pack’s Center When Threatened
13 Aug 2013Animal pack theory regarding sheep retreating to the center of the pack, is proven by GPS tracking.
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) has been used in a variety of studies for tracking animal movements in their natural habitat, and the study of sheep’s behavior using tracking technology is the latest experiment.
This isn’t the first time scientists have suspected animals move a certain way in groups when they are threatened, but GPS tracking devices helped researchers get a definitive answer.
The study, which is published in Current Biology, was conducted by researchers at Cambridge University and Royal Veterinary College in London.
During the study, researchers placed a GPS tracking device on each sheep belonging to the same flock. In order to drive the flock, the scientists used an Australian Kelpie dog.
When the dog got near the flock of sheep, they did just what researchers assumed; felt threatened and began walking towards the center of the group. All of the sheep moved simultaneously to the center of the flock in order to avoid being attacked from the dog, which they thought was a predator.
Prior to using GPS, researchers were unable to get a concrete answer as to how animals react when they feel threatened or a predator attack is imminent. This is because they don’t act entirely natural when humans are around. But with GPS tracking, the data was viewed from a distance and the sheep didn’t know they were being tracked. Every step the sheep took throughout the study was tracked with the GPS device. This allowed the team of scientists and veterinarians to truly get raw data on the sheep’s movements before, during and after the moment when the dog got near them.
“For the first time, we could show the individual movement trajectories of all the animals involved. Before, we could ‘say, yep, they move in and run to the center’. But because of the GPS backpacks tracking movement every second, [we were able] to monitor every animal when they were under threat,” said Dr. Andrew King of The Royal Veterinary College when he spoke to BBC about their findings.
Researchers already knew sheep were intelligent animals; much more so than people like to think. They are also known to have advanced learning abilities, excellent memory and the ability to successfully map their surroundings. Because they act purely on instincts, they move to the center of the pack to keep themselves safe. Researchers believe it is not just for each individual sheep, but that it keeps the group safer as a whole.
The results of this GPS study only shows they have excellent instincts and enough brain power to know what to do when they are threatened. Aside from capturing data for this study, GPS is also being used to monitor their behavior in other situations.
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