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Goats can tell when humans are happy or angry and they prefer to see people smile, according to a new scientific study.

The Royal Society has published research determining animal intelligence by looking closely at how well goats understand human expressions.

Scientists discovered the farm animals are drawn towards humans who are smiling.

Some 35 goats from the Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats near Maidstone in Kent were used in the study.

The animals were shown images of humans displaying different facial expressions each attached to a wall.

When the goats were released from four metres away, they were free to roam for 30 seconds at a time. Overall, the goats tended to interact with the happy faces - leading researchers to believe they were sensitive to the emotional cues.

Goats prefer when humans smile 5 show all Goats prefer when humans smile 1/5 Goats at the Buttercups Sanctuary in Kent have changed our thinking about animal intelligence, as they show not only domesticated animals are affected by human emotional cues. PA/Christian Nawroth 2/5 Dr Alan Mcelligott. Research conducted at Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent, demonstrated that the goats preferred to interact with the smiling face. PA/Alan Mcelligott 3/5 Dr Christian Nawroth, shown with a goat at the Buttercups Sanctuary. The team tested the responses of 35 goats to positive and negative images of human faces. PA/Christian Nawroth 4/5 The findings suggested that goats use the left hemisphere of their brains to process positive emotion, said the team from Queen Mary, University of London. PA/Christian Nawroth 5/5 A goat looks out from its pen on the first day of The Royal Cheshire County Show at Tabley, near Knutsford, northern England. AFP/Getty Images/Oli |Scarff 1/5 Goats at the Buttercups Sanctuary in Kent have changed our thinking about animal intelligence, as they show not only domesticated animals are affected by human emotional cues. PA/Christian Nawroth 2/5 Dr Alan Mcelligott. Research conducted at Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent, demonstrated that the goats preferred to interact with the smiling face. PA/Alan Mcelligott 3/5 Dr Christian Nawroth, shown with a goat at the Buttercups Sanctuary. The team tested the responses of 35 goats to positive and negative images of human faces. PA/Christian Nawroth 4/5 The findings suggested that goats use the left hemisphere of their brains to process positive emotion, said the team from Queen Mary, University of London. PA/Christian Nawroth 5/5 A goat looks out from its pen on the first day of The Royal Cheshire County Show at Tabley, near Knutsford, northern England. AFP/Getty Images/Oli |Scarff

The team of researchers, led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London, said in a report: "We show that animals domesticated for production can discriminate human facial expressions with different emotional valences and prefer to interact with positive ones. Therefore, the impact of domestication on animal cognitive abilities may be more far-reaching than previously assumed.

"Domestication has shaped the physiology and the behaviour of animals to better adapt to human environments. Therefore, human facial expressions may be highly informative for animals domesticated for working closely with people, such as dogs and horses."

Dogs and horses, which have long been domesticated for familiar and working relationships with humans, have been known to show a range of understanding of human's emotional expressions. Horses are particularly sensitive to angry expressions, and react with increased heart-rate and diverting their eyes to the left.

Goats have been domesticated for the last 8,000 years, but only for production of food and other materials. This meant they were were selectively bred based on their colour, stature and physical attributes - but not their intelligence.

Dr Alan McElligott who led the study, and is now based at the University of Roehampton, said: “The study has important implications for how we interact with livestock and other species, because the abilities of animals to perceive human emotions might be widespread and not just limited to pets.”

Co-author Natalia Albuquerque, from the University of Sao Paulo, said: “The study of emotion perception has already shown very complex abilities in dogs and horses. However, to date, there was no evidence that animals such as goats were capable of reading human facial expressions. Our results open new paths to understanding the emotional lives of all domestic animals.”

Bob Hitch, the founder of Buttercups Sanctuary, said the research backed up what he's always known - as he's watched the transformation of animals rescued from all kinds of abusive backgrounds.

He said: "We let to roam around in a wide area and with the care from the staff here we give them hands on attention and help settle them down.

"One big thing for them is your voice - when we put them to bed at night we're talking to them quietly. But like children you get three or four who like to play around in the haystacks, so you shout "go to bed", and their ears prick up and they scuttle off to their pens.

"Goats are very intelligent animals much like dogs - they love to be touched and stroked, and you can see they're over the moon when you bring out the bag of food.

"So we know now that we have to walk around with smiles on our faces - which we do anyway - its a happy atmosphere which the goats love."

Buttercups is the UK's only goat sanctuary - caring for 150 animals on site and another 130 in foster homes around Kent and East Sussex. To give support or adopt a goat, find out more here.