For those in more rural areas, it is a common occurrence. Off on a nice countryside walk, but you can feel a pair of eyes digging into your back. But who is staring you down? Often, it is a nosy flock of sheep.
As you pass a farm, sheep will often stare you down, watching you as you walk by with some serious intent. So why exactly do they do this? Well, it comes down to a few factors.
Most crucially, they are simply trying to suss you out. Sheep have incredibly good facial recognition skills. Research has shown that they are able to recognise and remember the faces of at least 50 individual sheep and human faces. These memories can even be retained for up to two years.
They are surprisingly good at distinguishing between familiar and unfamiliar faces. This means, if you take the same route enough times, they might just recognise you as you pass by.
In fact, a 2017 study found that sheep can recognise familiar faces from photographs. They can even recognise familiar faces that were shown from different angles, showing intelligent facial recognition patterns.
However, it isn’t always a case of memory. Sheep are naturally inquisitive animals and they pay close attention to their surroundings. If you get near enough to a field, or move in a particularly strange way, they might start to investigate.
This, paired with their strong prey instincts, mean they’ll often be sizing you up to understand if you’re a threat or not. Research has found that direct eye contact from humans can act as a warning cute to sheep, prompting them to pay even closer attention to you.
They are also highly social animals and rely on each other to detect danger. If one sheep spots you, the others may also become alert and look at the same threat. This can be why it feels like the entire field is staring you down.
