After bringing some Halloween stuff down, I have found out chickens can feel uncanny valley just like humans can, but in regards to things that look human but are different.
They are completely fine with strangers, ranging from young kids to old people, and with large and small objects they are unfamiliar with... Yet things that resemble a human face REALLY freaks out my chickens. Wearing a witch mask? They act like you are going to eat them. Seeing a small human skull made of plaster? They are also super unnerved and freaked out by it. A small clown puppet? Also very freaked out.
A water bottle bigger than everything they were shown prior? Ran over to peck at it to see if it was edible. A bottle of soda? Also pecked at it. A large potato? They wanted to peck at that too. A fox plushie? Becomes a pillow. A Rubix Cube? Colourful thing to peck at. Plastic bags? Something to root around in... It is super weird. I knew Corvids were able to tell faces apart, but I never thought birds could feel a sense of uncanny valley in regards to things that resemble things familiar but are different, eg, human faces.
The chickens got some bread as a treat after the small experiments and they have all settled down contently now. The whole thing only lasted about a minute and I love my chickens and would never intend to scare my birds purposely, but was curious over the triggers that caused them to get unnerved. Good thing we have no Halloween party planned, as the poor birds would have had heart attacks!
They are completely fine with strangers, ranging from young kids to old people, and with large and small objects they are unfamiliar with... Yet things that resemble a human face REALLY freaks out my chickens. Wearing a witch mask? They act like you are going to eat them. Seeing a small human skull made of plaster? They are also super unnerved and freaked out by it. A small clown puppet? Also very freaked out.
A water bottle bigger than everything they were shown prior? Ran over to peck at it to see if it was edible. A bottle of soda? Also pecked at it. A large potato? They wanted to peck at that too. A fox plushie? Becomes a pillow. A Rubix Cube? Colourful thing to peck at. Plastic bags? Something to root around in... It is super weird. I knew Corvids were able to tell faces apart, but I never thought birds could feel a sense of uncanny valley in regards to things that resemble things familiar but are different, eg, human faces.
The chickens got some bread as a treat after the small experiments and they have all settled down contently now. The whole thing only lasted about a minute and I love my chickens and would never intend to scare my birds purposely, but was curious over the triggers that caused them to get unnerved. Good thing we have no Halloween party planned, as the poor birds would have had heart attacks!
