Script for LET’S ASK the ANIMALS

Narrator  
There are 160 million farm animals in Britain of which nearly 45 million are sheep. Sheep are.....

Silly voice 
(gives two exaggerated yawns .... )
Dear me, how dull, all those boring sheep. Stupid things sheep. Don’t do anything but eat and sleep. 

Narrator 
Stupid?  Is that what you  think?  A pity, because they’ve a lot in common with you and me.  Like us, sheep get energy from food and, yes, they do have to spend a lot of time eating.  So would we if we ate nothing but ... well, lettuce for instance.  Greens help us keep healthy but they don’t provide much energy. That’s why grazing sheep move forward slowly. If they trotted off in all directions, nibbling a little bit here and there, they’d use more energy finding food than they gained from eating it.  So it’s just as well they know the best way to graze.

Silly voice 
KNOW THE BEST WAY TO GRAZE!!! What-ever next!  Suppose you’ll be telling me they even use their brains  ......

Narrator
Well, watch this.
This farmer, checking the health of his lambs while their mothers feed, has to take one away for a few minutes.  How will the mother react?

She looks around and calls anxiously. A friend, recognising her distress, tries to comfort her .....

Silly voice
A FRIEND ....!!!

Narrator
Yes. Scientists studying animal behaviour have discovered that certain sheep in any flock become lifelong `best friends`, always staying close together. Pigs living in herds form friendships too and so do cows. Farm animals suffer when made to live alone. So that`s another thing many animals share with us, the need for companionship.

But look ... since her lamb fails to come to her calls, the mother has clearly worked out that it may have become trapped in another field. Now wouldn’t you think that took a little brainwork?

Silly voice
(Grumpily) Suppose you might say that but I reckon it’s just INSTINCT.  INSTINCT, that’s all it is .......

Narrator
Which means you still believe animals act automatically, like machines, and can’t learn or use experience, as we do. Alright, now the lamb has been returned, come with me to another field.

These sheep graze peacefully, undisturbed by cars passing nearby. Now why aren’t  they frightened by these big, noisy things?  Because they’ve learned they’ve nothing to fear or gain from them.  Like us, animals are able to learn from experience.

But watch carefully. A vehicle which is important to them is about to appear - the farmer’s Land Rover, which regularly brings food in winter when grass stops growing.

The sheep know that the Land Rover`s arrival signals food on its way and start to run to the troughs.

This proves they’ve learned to predict - to work out what’s likely to happen next.  They could only do this by using their brains.

The sheep recognise the farmer`s vehicle by sight and engine sound, proving they can tell the difference between a Land Rover and, for instance, a Ford car.

Like us, animals make constant use of their senses. Indeed, some are better able to hear, see, smell, taste or recognise things by touch than we are.

Silly voice  (Grumpily)
Well alright, I suppose they did recognise the Land Rover ... I’ll grant you that. But what’s all this about them being better than us?   BETTER, indeed ....

Narrator
In some senses, yes.  Some species are able to see, smell or hear things our senses wouldn’t detect.  I’ll show you.

See how this pig is using her sense of smell to keep an eye on - I beg your pardon, to keep a nose on - what’s happening around her.  Pigs have much greater ability to detect smells than we have.

They also have remarkably sensitive mouths – even more sensitive than our fingertips - to touch and explore, as this young pig Lucy is about to show you.

Pigs love the taste of sweet things, so scientists mix Sugar Puffs in pebbles, then hide them where Lucy can’t see them.

See how quickly she smells them though. And with that highly sensitive mouth she has no trouble separating the Sugar Puffs from the pebbles.

Silly voice

Oh very clever, VERY clever.  Now I suppose you’re going to tell me that pigs are cleverer than we are.

Narrator

No. But intelligence tests suggest that they compare well with dogs in most mental abilities and are quicker at learning some things. Pigs can even learn to operate computers.

These female pigs, kept to produce piglets, are called sows and they have learned to operate a feeding machine. Each has her own collar with an electronic code that can be read by a computer. The computer instructs the machine to pour out the right amount of food for each sow, enough to keep her healthy without getting fat. The system works because sows swiftly learn where to go and what to do. They even outwit the computer, given half a chance.

Sows happening to come across a spare collar have been known to pick it up and take it through the machine to get a second helping.

Silly voice

Very funny, I’m sure. Ho ho!  Next you`ll be telling me pigs can learn to sit and walk on leads, like dogs ....

Narrator
How did you guess!  And animal behaviour expert, Dr Mike Baxter, shows how easily this six week old piglet can outsmart any pup of the same age.              Convinced?

Silly voice  (Grudgingly)
Suppose so ..... I’m not exactly a birdbrain, you know ....

Oh NO ......!!!

Narrator
Well done. You’re beginning to realise that many animals - even those so-called `birdbrains` -  have much in common with us, including the ability to learn.

This hen, taking part in a test to discover more about animals’ needs, has learned to peck a switch to turn off a heater when she’s too hot. Animals share our need to keep their bodies at a comfortable temperature.

This young turkey has discovered he must peck a bright green switch in order to open his food container. He is just seven weeks old and it took him only half an hour to learn the trick.

And right now, just like you, these hens are actually learning by watching a video. They see the hen on the video finding food in a red container.

Now let’s see what happens when food is put in similar containers - some red, but others yellow, then hidden under sawdust.

The first hen goes straight to the red container. The second looks at the yellow one, hesitates, remembers the video hen found food in a red container, and quickly opts for a red one too.

Scientists find that hens, taught in this way, will choose red containers, over and over again, proving they’ve remembered and learned from what they’ve seen.

Farm animals are often thought of as little more than food producing machines. But the more we learn the more we discover how much animals have in common with us, including the ability to experience pleasure and pain.

So what do they need and what do we need to be healthy and content and which needs do we share?

OUR BASIC NEEDS

Of course, all living creatures need air to breathe and, just as cars need petrol, all animals need food to provide energy for movement.  Food also supplies nutrients - the vitamins, minerals and protein which build and repair muscles, bones and other organs of the body.

These animals get all their energy and nutrients from plants.  So can we, from a variety of fruits, vegetables and foods made from grains such as bread and pasta. In many parts of the world people live entirely on plant food, but many people also like to eat meat, eggs and milk products - which is why these animals are reared.

Whichever diet we follow, the important thing is to eat a wide range of foods, this ensures we get the many different nutrients which combine to keep us healthy.

Like us, animals also need a regular intake of liquid. Our bodies detect this need and make us thirsty so that we search for something to drink.

Today, most poultry and many pigs and calves live indoors, in buildings like this, so that people can pay less for meat and eggs.

Here animals can be kept sufficiently warm, fed a balanced diet and are allowed to drink whatever they want to. But is this all they need?

Modern hens were bred from these jungle fowl. Most still live in forests where they roost in trees, forage for food, lay eggs in nests and rear their young, much like sparrows and robins.

But today’s hens live a very different life. Most laying birds are kept in cages in large buildings known as battery units.  When this system began, about fifty years ago, egg producers saw no harm in keeping hens like this.  After all, they were given sufficient to eat and drink - what more could they possibly need?

Let’s release some hens from their cage to see if the they themselves can give some answers to that question.

OTHER THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON

For these hens, with feathers worn and pecked away from a life in the cage, the wider world must seem strange indeed. See how carefully they look around....

But how difficult they find it to get out of their crate.

And how they stagger and fall when they first attempt to walk.

These uncaged hens walk, run and jump with ease because they have space to satisfy another need we share - the need for exercise. Like us, most large animals have skeletons and muscles to support their bodies and help them to move. Without exercise, muscles waste away and bones become brittle and easily broken.

By watching these chicks grow, we’ll see just how vital a strong and healthy skeleton is for movement.

The chick on the left, is an egg-layer, and will grow at natural speed. But the chick on the right has been specially bred for meat. These days, nearly all chickens reared for meat are bred to grow with amazing speed so that large quantities of their flesh can be sold at low cost.

After only four days the meat chick seems reluctant to move, while the egg-layer remains a lively little bird.

The reason becomes apparent as the meat chick continues to grow much faster than her companion - too fast, in fact, for her own skeleton which cannot develop properly at such speed.

Her difficulty in supporting her body is seen in the way she stands. And this problem increases as she approaches the end of her commercial lifespan of just seven weeks. The egg-layer will require a further ten weeks to grow to full size.

This amazing growth rate causes many meat chickens great difficulty and discomfort in walking.

And some, like this bird, are unable to walk at all.

These farm animals demonstrate yet another need they share with people. Like you they need to clean themselves .....

Silly voice  (Outraged)
I beg your pardon. I BEG YOUR PARDON!!!   Need to clean themselves? Sheep!

Narrator
Sorry. I’d forgotten about you.  But I wasn’t being rude. Whether we’ve feathers, fur or skin and hair we all need to clean and groom regularly.

Animals don’t have soap and water but they have other ways of keeping clean.

Free-range hens take a dust-bath, which is like having a dry shampoo.

Scientists find that hens in cages still frequently attempt to dustbathe even though they have no dust to use. Though they have never lived like their wild ancestors, caged hens continue to experience nearly all the same needs.

Of course, not all animal and human needs are just the same.  Some needs are experienced only by humans, other only by certain creatures.

For instance, although all animals produce young, birds have some special needs at this time.  We know that for at least an hour before laying an egg every hen feels a strong need to build a nest, which is why these free-range hens hurry indoors to their next boxes.

Sows share this nest-building need before giving birth, but it isn’t a human need nor one experienced by all other animals.

Silly voice  (Sarcastically)
But how do you know?  HOW DO YOU know that hens need nests? Suppose you’ve asked them .......

Narrator

Yes. That’s right. In recent years, scientists have found ways to ask animals questions and allow them to answer, as you’re about to discover.

HOW THE ANIMALS ANSWER

See how our released hens build and use nests, now they’ve space and straw. Yet they’d never even seen a nest before.

But this isn’t proof of a need.  A nest might be a luxury, something hens like but could be content without.  So ask yourself what you’d  do if you experienced a real need - say if you hadn’t eaten for days and hadn’t a scrap of food.

Silly voice (Eagerly)
‘S’cuse me. I can answer that. I’d go right off to the supermarket and buy some food.

Narrator
Right. You’d pay for it and, if you had to, you`d pay a lot. The more hungry you were the higher the price you`d be prepared to pay. And although hens don’t have money, but they’re prepared to pay a high price in effort for something they badly need. They’ll even do things they don’t really like, such as squeezing through narrow spaces in order to reach nests.

Since being able to exercise and regain strength, the battery hens have proved willing to perform many difficult tasks. On this obstacle  course, each must peck a key to release a catch, squeeze through a small space, keep her balance on a thin pole, peck a wire loop three times to instruct the computer to release a door, take the right turn at a junction and leap over water in order to reach a nest.

By being prepared to overcome so many obstacles in scientific tests, hens have told us they need nests very much indeed.

Which is why scientists, seeking to improve the life for farm animals would like to see one provided in every type of hen accommodation.               

In outdoor or well-designed indoor environments, farm animals spend their waking hours seeking food, socialising, exploring, grooming, caring for their young and playing - demonstrating that they need to keep occupied.

This is another need they do share with us - we all get bored and unhappy if we have nothing to do for too long.

These days many piglets reared for bacon, sausages, ham and pork are kept on metal bars between concrete walls with nothing to do and nothing to explore except each other’s bodies. This often results in fighting ....

..... and the weakest animals suffer most.

See the difference in the friendly play of these piglets with lots to explore.

Even the smallest, little more than half the size of his brothers and sisters is free from bullying. 

Silly voice
So how do we know the first lot weren’t just horrid, bad-tempered piglets?

Narrator
Good question. Let’s see if we can demonstrate in another way that animals need things to do.

These piglets have lived in this indoor pen with nothing to play with.  See how timid they are - how frightened when this scientist quietly steps in.

These piglets live in the same surroundings, the only difference is they’ve been given these piglet-type toys to play with and explore. See the difference it makes to their behaviour - how much friendlier and less frightened they are when they have been given at least something to do.

But (thoughtfully) perhaps there’s another little test we can do to demonstrate that we all need exercise and activity .....

Silly voice
Let me out. LET ME OUT!  They’ve kept me in this cage all day.  I’m miserable, lonely, stiff, dirty, uncomfortable and bored.  LET ME OUT!  LET ME OUT!

Lamb’s voice:  What’s that Mum?

Ewe’s voice:   Oh, that’s a human, dear.

Lamb’s voice:   Looks a pretty stupid thing to me, Mum.

Ewe’s voice:   Shush dear, that’s rude. And if you really learned to understand them you’d discover they’d a lot in common with you and me.

END