The importance of the relationship between a ewe and her adopted lamb. Image copyright Compassion/Elli Goodlet.
Janet Taylor of Farm Animal Sanctuary near Worcester told us this touching tale of two sheep. Jasmine was a mature ewe who hadn’t had a lamb for 6 or 7 years. A group of newly rescued sheep moved into the field next to her, including some orphaned lambs, and over the next few days she began calling to one orphan named Alfie. He was calling back to her and eventually Janet decided to put him over the fence to be with her – and see what happened.
Alfie began to try to suckle Jasmine, as he would have done his biological mother, and Jasmine let him do so. Janet felt that at least this would provide him with the comfort of contact with a ‘mother’ but continued to bottle-feed him. Amazingly, Jasmine began to produce milk herself and was able to feed her newly adopted lamb as her own.
We have heard about a number of female animals who have adopted and fed orphaned youngsters. This even happens across species; for example, pigs are known to have adopted newborn puppies.
This shows the strength of both the maternal instinct and the need to have care from a mother figure. Perhaps all the species we commonly farm have this need but sadly, they are often denied it. In the light of our modern scientific understanding of animal sentience, Compassion in World Farming believes that farming policy and practice must take full account of animal sentience – as is required by European Union law.
If by the word ‘language’ we mean a system of communication, animals have different languages of their own. Hens and chickens have over 30 different calls, which they use to alert their group to food or danger, for example. Chicks start communicating with their mother hen while they are still in the egg and cockerels have a special food call to let the hens know that food has been found. Hens make a gentle crowing sound when they are happy.
Socialising in the village square. (c) Compassion in World Farming/Chi Keung Wong
Pigs are very chatty, communicating with grunts, squeals, snarls and snorts, champing their jaws and clacking their teeth. Sows have a special call for their piglets when it’s time for the piglets to suckle. Sows and piglets keep contact with each other and with their mother by squeals and grunts. If piglets are separated from Mum, they squeal for her. Scientists found that sows responded more strongly to the desperate squeals from cold, hungry piglets than they did to calls from larger, more well-fed piglets.
Animals can also understand each other’s language. For example, some animals can understand the meaning of another’s alarm call.
Dogs and humans have a long history of living together. While dogs are often quick are picking up what humans are saying – perhaps by the tone of voice rather than by all the actual words – we humans often seem to struggle to understand dog ‘bark language.’ In this really interesting video, courtesy of the social networking site Petstreet , dog communication expert John Rogerson helps us decipher what our furry friends are wanting to tell us.
LuLu the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig is a star pig. When her human companion suffered a heart attack in their isolated holiday home, thirteen-month old LuLu charged to the rescue.
She squeezed through the ‘dog door’, scraping herself in the process, and headed for the road. This meant her leaving the fenced yard, which she never usually did on her own.
Then she laid in the road waiting for a car to stop. According to witnesses, it took 45 minutes before a kind driver did get out to see what was up. LuLu led him to the house and Jo Ann’s life was saved.
A follow-up article reported that the world was fascinated by LuLu’s courage and clever action. LuLu has had worldwide media coverage and TV appearances and she has been given a gold medal from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
