Male Sheep Raised by Female Goats Found to Prefer Goats Sexually

Young male sheep raised from birth by female goats develop a social and sexual preference for goats when they mature, British scientists report in today’s Nature. Similar cross-species preferences were found in male goats raised by female sheep. “We show that the emotional bond between a mother and her male offspring, rather than other social and genetic factors, may irreversibly determine these species’ social and sexual preferences,” said Keith M. Kendrick of the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England. The effect was less pronounced with daughters, however.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II