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Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

bbc.com

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Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#31

Post by 6stringmerc »

failrate wrote: post #28

I grew up on a sheep farm. I disagree with this article. I found them to be almost pathologically fatalistic and idiotic. Perhaps there's something to be said about domestication having a negative cognitive effect, or inbreeding, or some other factor. But these animals were not intelligent.

Heck, I've done substitute teaching in a relatively affluent suburb of Austin, Texas and I find there are some really dim human creatures amongst us. Factors you noted all potentially relevant. It's frustrating to hear somebody say "Oh just reason with them!" when sometimes a certain contingent of 14 year olds are kind of lacking whip cracking in the bigger picture.

Tenacious is good. Stubborn is not.

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#32

Post by oh_sigh »

tnorthcutt wrote: post #29
tokenizerrr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article you linked: > While these barriers are usually effective for cattle,[23] they can fail due to ingenious animals. Sheep searching for food have been known to roll over grids, jump across them, step carefully into the spaces[24] or run along the side of grids as wide as 8 feet (2.4 m). [24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rIbZWblPaA

The very next video youtube suggested shows two sheep, surrounded by lush green fields, climbing onto steep, wet rocks on a hillside in an attempt to reach some grass in the middle of the rocks. One of the sheep falls, presumably to its death or at least to a significant injury. They may be clever, but they seem... dumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m2HJpGtv70

To be fair, one was a lamb which was just following the adult, and was still alive and healthy by the end of the video.

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#33

Post by [deleted] »

tnorthcutt wrote: post #29
tokenizerrr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article you linked: > While these barriers are usually effective for cattle,[23] they can fail due to ingenious animals. Sheep searching for food have been known to roll over grids, jump across them, step carefully into the spaces[24] or run along the side of grids as wide as 8 feet (2.4 m). [24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rIbZWblPaA

The very next video youtube suggested shows two sheep, surrounded by lush green fields, climbing onto steep, wet rocks on a hillside in an attempt to reach some grass in the middle of the rocks. One of the sheep falls, presumably to its death or at least to a significant injury. They may be clever, but they seem... dumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m2HJpGtv70

[deleted]

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#34

Post by stinos »

tnorthcutt wrote: post #29
tokenizerrr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article you linked: > While these barriers are usually effective for cattle,[23] they can fail due to ingenious animals. Sheep searching for food have been known to roll over grids, jump across them, step carefully into the spaces[24] or run along the side of grids as wide as 8 feet (2.4 m). [24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rIbZWblPaA

The very next video youtube suggested shows two sheep, surrounded by lush green fields, climbing onto steep, wet rocks on a hillside in an attempt to reach some grass in the middle of the rocks. One of the sheep falls, presumably to its death or at least to a significant injury. They may be clever, but they seem... dumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m2HJpGtv70

They may be clever, but they seem... dumb.

Not unlike us. There's a striking resemblence between that video and the many, many 'fail' videos featuring humans.

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#35

Post by stinos »

return0 wrote: post #2

They may not lack intelligence but they are not fun. They are boring. They keep to themselves. They are very "sheepish". They are not emotional, except horny rams. They don't socialize with humans. They are scared of everything. They are herdish and their herd makes dumb decisions. Very few of them are outliers in behavior/intelligence. I grew up with sheep. I 'm sorry sheep, you are dumb.

I 'm sorry sheep, you are dumb

I don't own sheep but did spend some time with them and came to the same conclusion. However I also don't think that research is incorrect. As such I am assuming the missing link is the learning part: is it possible they are capable enough but being in a herd suppresses this / has no use for it so it doesn't come out? Due to lack of stimulants, lack of apparent need to learn something?

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#37

Post by [deleted] »

return0 wrote: post #2

They may not lack intelligence but they are not fun. They are boring. They keep to themselves. They are very "sheepish". They are not emotional, except horny rams. They don't socialize with humans. They are scared of everything. They are herdish and their herd makes dumb decisions. Very few of them are outliers in behavior/intelligence. I grew up with sheep. I 'm sorry sheep, you are dumb.

[deleted]

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#38

Post by vertex-four »

dankohn1 wrote: post #23
jrimclean wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Growing up an a hobby farm with 20-40 (depending on the time of year), this is my experience too. Lambs are playful and full of spunk, but as they grow older they quickly become full-time grazing machines. Rams are just vicious.

Classic HN here that no matter how obscure the topic, we have posts from 3 different people with real world experience.

I'm not sure that sheep-farming is particularly obscure.

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#39

Post by syoc »

May experience is that the sheep most farmers have are quite stupid. I have grown up owning huskies and taken said huskies on trips on mountains where sheep roam free. I have been struggling to hold back a husky literally meters away from sheep before. They will just look stupidly at the lethal predator and make no attempt to get away. They have been bred to be easier to handle (aka dumb) and would likely have been eaten in the wild.

Re: Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless either

#40

Post by lostlogin »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #25
dankohn1 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic HN here that no matter how obscure the topic, we have posts from 3 different people with real world experience.

My favorite was the person who happened to be burning a boat for fuel when it was being debated whether a crew could survive a shipwreck for years by using the ship as a fuel source. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10803552

I enjoyed the "did you win the Putman" episode.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

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