Cows possess ability to distinguish human friend from foe, new research shows

Cattle possess the remarkable ability to identify human faces they know and connect those faces with corresponding voices, according to new research.

The study reveals cows do not view all people as an indistinguishable group but can instead pick out individuals they have encountered before.

The researchers concluded: "Our findings suggest that cows are capable of processing human cues and that they do not perceive all humans as a single, undifferentiated category, but are instead capable of distinguishing and recognising individuals they have previously met."

Scientists from France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment conducted their investigation with 32 Prim'Holstein cows.

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They positioned the animals in front of a pair of screens showing video footage of human faces.

One display featured someone the cow encountered regularly in daily life, whilst the other showed a complete stranger.

Researchers tracked how long each animal maintained gaze on its respective screen during silent video playback.

The team then introduced an audio element, playing voice recordings from both the familiar and unfamiliar individuals to determine whether the cows could link a recognised voice with its matching face.

The findings were published in the journal PLOS One.

The cows "stared longer at videos of unfamiliar people, showing they could distinguish between a known and unknown face", the researchers reported.

When a familiar voice played, the animals spent more time looking towards the face they recognised.

The pattern reversed when an unfamiliar voice was heard.

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The team found: "Our results indicate that cows are capable of integrating multiple sensory cues, reflecting a higher level of cognitive processing."

Whilst the cattle showed greater interest in novel human faces, they displayed the opposite preference when viewing images of other cows.

The animals spent longer examining photographs of the heifers they already knew.

The researchers noted dogs exhibit a similar tendency to favour familiar faces over unfamiliar ones when viewing images of their own species.

Scientists emphasised socio-cognitive abilities towards humans have received limited study in cattle, despite dairy cows living in proximity to people from the moment they are born, whether being bottle-fed or milked each day.

The study suggests farm workers should be assigned to care for specific animals to "strengthen the human-animal relationship".

From an animal welfare standpoint, the researchers argued that understanding these cognitive capacities is vital for improving how humans interact with and manage cattle.

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