Sheep use scent to locate food and recognize humans, but the role of odors in emotional connections remains unclear.
Sheep use inguinal wax for feeding
A 2024 thesis by Justine Alary explored how ewes use inguinal wax, a scent produced in the groin area, to help lambs locate their udders for suckling. This wax was found to guide lambs toward the correct feeding spot when they are bottle-fed.Inguinal wax aids orientation but not feeding
Research showed that lambs could identify bottles with inguinal wax more easily than those without. However, this did not lead to any significant change in how long or how much they drank from the bottles.Sheep detect human emotions through odors
A 2025 thesis by Izïa Larrigaldie examined whether sheep can detect human emotions through scent. The study found that sheep reacted more strongly to odors associated with fear and joy, as shown by changes in the position of their ears.Sheep recognize familiar human odors
In a follow-up test, sheep spent more time sniffing the odor of their breeder compared to an unfamiliar person’s scent. This suggests they could recognize the breeder’s smell, though more research is needed to confirm this finding.More research needed for emotional recognition
While the findings suggest sheep may have some ability to detect human emotions through scent, the study concludes that further investigation is required to fully understand this potential ability.
