In the past few days, an unusual video from China’s Inner Mongolia has been circulating on social networks. It shows a flock of sheep walking in circles without stopping for 12 days. The video was taken in early November of goats walking clockwise around their pen in northern China.
A foreign scientist says that there is a sufficient explanation for this strange phenomenon. Experts from the British veterinary company Molcare Farm Vets point out that the exact cause of such behavior is unknown, but they do not rule out that it is a consequence of the bacterial disease listeriosis. The condition causes inflammation of one side of the brain, causing animals to walk in circles or become paralyzed on the affected side.
“ISheep appear to have been in the pen for a long time, which may lead to stereotypical behavior, i.e. constant circling. Goats are frustrated by limited space. Then the other sheep join them as they are in the herd and bind or associate with their friendsMatt Bell, professor of agriculture at the University of Hartpury in Gloucester, said:
The social behavior of goats is dominated by herd mentality, which regulates the movement of animals and protects individuals from predators by allowing them to escape danger as a herd, the veterinary manual says.
The owner of the Miao herd said the strange performance was started by a few goats before others joined in, British Metro reports. Although there are 34 cattle on the farm, only those in stall number 13 are behaving like this.
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