Cross-Species Communication: Humans Crack the Chicken Clucking Code
By UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
A University of Queensland-led study has found humans can
tell if chickens are excited or displeased, just by the sound of their clucks.A cartoon by Pedro Molina.
Professor Joerg Henning from UQ’s School of Veterinary
Science said researchers investigated whether humans could correctly identify
the context of calls or clucking sounds made by domestic chickens, the most
commonly farmed species in the world.
Study Methodology and Findings
“In this study, we used recordings of chickens vocalizing
in all different scenarios from a previous experiment,” Professor Henning said.
“Two calls were produced in anticipation of a reward,
which we called the ‘food’ call and the ‘fast cluck’.
“Two other call types were produced in non-reward
contexts, such as food being withheld, which we called the ‘whine’ and ‘gakel’
calls.”
The researchers played the audio files back to test
whether humans could tell in which context the chicken sounds were made, and
whether various demographics and levels of experience with chickens affected
their correct identification.
Implications for Chicken Welfare
“We found 69 percent of all participants could correctly
tell if a chicken sounded excited or displeased,” Professor Henning said.
“This is a remarkable result and further strengthens
evidence that humans have the ability to perceive the emotional context of
vocalizations made by different species.”
Professor Henning said the ability to detect emotional
information from vocalization could improve the welfare of farmed chickens.
“A substantial proportion of participants being able to
successfully recognize calls produced in reward-related contexts is
significant,” he said.
“It provides confidence that people involved in chicken
husbandry can identify the emotional state of the birds they look after, even
if they don’t have prior experience.”
Future Research and Applications
“Our hope is that in future research, specific acoustic
cues that predict how humans rate arousal in chicken calls could be identified,
and these results could potentially be used in artificially intelligent based
detection systems to monitor vocalizations in chickens,” Professor Henning
said.
“This would allow for the development of automated
assessments of compromised or good welfare states within poultry management
systems.
“Ultimately this could enhance the management of farmed
chickens to improve their welfare, while helping conscientious consumers to
make more informed purchasing decisions.”
This research has been published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Reference: “Humans can identify reward-related call types
of chickens” by Nicky McGrath, Clive J. C. Phillips, Oliver H. P. Burman, Cathy
M. Dwyer and Joerg Henning, 3 January 2024, Royal Society Open Science.
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231284