Dogs face unexpected competition from this farm animal in understanding humans

Dogs, also known as man's best friend, have been domesticated by humans for centuries.

The animal is known for understanding human social cues without special training.

But now, a study by the University of Zürich has found that goats can nearly match dogs in this regard.

They set up an experiment to test the finding.

A total of 29 goats took part in the research, with two buckets.

In one of them, there was food hidden, though the goats did not know about this.

Then, a human directed them, and the results showed that 60% of the time the goats picked the bucket filled with treats.

This has put the goats just behind dogs, who scored near 63%.

Moreover, the human voice is pivotal in guiding the goats; when scientists remained silent, the goats' success rate in choosing the bucket with food slumped.

Interestingly, researchers said similar tests were conducted on chimpanzees, but they struggled.

This is linked to goats' domestication over thousands of years.