Cowboys and matadors who want to know if a bull will give them a run for their money should take a glance at its hairstyle. Cattle鈥檚 coiffure, it seems, reveals how likely an animal is to overreact to unfamiliar situations.
Temple Grandin and her colleagues at Colorado State University in Fort Collins scored the behaviour of over 1500 cattle in auction rings in Colorado and Texas. Calm cattle that simply walked or stood around were given a low 鈥渢emperament score鈥�. Agitated animals that head-butted people or rammed fences or walls were given a high score.
While one researcher scored each animal鈥檚 behaviour, another noted the position of a swirl of hair known as a facial hair whorl. Some cattle carried the whorl high on their foreheads, but others wore their whorl below their eyes. Some 10 per cent of the cattle were completely whorl-less.
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The team discovered that animals with whorls high on their heads or none at all were more likely to become agitated in the auction ring. Over half the animals with the highest temperament scores had no whorl, while very few animals with high whorls kept their cool.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 mainly indicative of the 鈥榮tartle鈥� response, when you suddenly put the animal into a new, scary situation,鈥� says Grandin.
Horse trainers were first to note a link between hair whorl position and temperament, Grandin says, and cattle have similar patterns. Sadly, changing an animal鈥檚 hairstyle is unlikley to change its behaviour. The whorls form from the same layer of cells in the embryo as the nervous system. But this may mean that hair and skin can offer markers of neurological development, Grandin suggests.
People also have spiral hair whorls at the back of the head. She notes that people with conditions such as Down鈥檚 syndrome have unusual whorls and fingerprints.
More at: Applied Animal Behaviour Science (vol 73, p 93)