Country Life
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April 24, 2021 They may seem dim, but chickens are off to investigate the world Credit: Universal Images Group via Getty
Assumed to be the lowest in the avian-intelligence pecking order, chickens are, in fact, more like feathered imitators
of Sherlock Holmes, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Why did the cockerel cross the track? To get to the barn, where the chicken feed is now stored.
Our Maran cock, Robespierre (‘the terror of the farmyard’), on discovering that the metal feed bin was not in its usual place in the woodshed, had gone off exploring to find it.
Chickens? Often assumed to be the lowest in the pecking order of avian intelligence. The reality? The world’s most common farmed animal there are 19 billion chickens on planet Earth is not such a dumb-cluck.
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If you’re constantly getting up from the table to see what’s going on out your window, you’re probably not going to get as much from your meal as your dining partner who stays calmly seated. And you might even miss out on the second round of servings.
Horses living in groups experience similar scenarios. In a recent study, British researchers found that “vigilant” individuals interrupt their meals to look around their environment, reducing what scientists refer to as their foraging efficiency. As a result, they tend to have lower body condition scores (BCS) than horses that “carry on munching,” said Christine Nicol, PhD, at the Royal Veterinary College in London, the U.K.