Have we got moos for you... Cows can chat about food and the weather by making their own unique sounds, a study claims.
Researchers reckon they have cracked their language with software they have dubbed " Google translate for cows".
Each cow has its own distinct moo and can give cues in different situations to express excitement, arousal, engagement or distress. When they are talking about happier things, like food, their moos are more sonorous.
And when they are moaning about the weather they are pitched lower.
Study author Alexandra Green, from the University of Sydney in Australia, said: “Cows are gregarious, social animals. But this is the first time we have been able to analyse voice to have conclusive evidence of this trait.”
It is hoped the findings will help farmers improve animal welfare.
Biologists made the discovery by analysing the pitch of Holstein-Fresian heifer cattle mooing into a microphone.
They found cows are happy when it is warm and they know they are going to be fed, but unhappy when they are denied access to food and when isolated from the rest of the herd.
Cows and calves were already known to communicate by maintaining individuality in their lowing.
But the study, in Nature Journal, confirms that they maintain this throughout their lives.
