When we think of intelligent animals, we often picture primates like chimpanzees and gorillas or marine mammals like dolphins and whales.
But the truth is intelligence in the animal kingdom is not limited to these well-known examples.
One particular sheep left a farm staff baffled one day.
In the Whitehouse Farm Centre based in Morpeth, England, unexplained break-outs left staff curious and speechless.
They had no idea why some animals were getting out of their enclosures.
They came up with a clever idea to solve the mystery.
The staff wanted to know how the breakthroughs were happening.
It’s not just for the sake of the property but for the safety of the animals. They wanted to make sure no one was harming them.
They decided to install a hidden camera.
They figured that there was no way they could understand what was happening unless they saw it for themselves.
Installing a camera is one of the best ways to do that.
What the camera caught left them quite surprised.
In the footage, no human can be seen letting animals out. However, it did catch the culprit.
It was Lucy, their Leicester sheep, that just turned one year old.
In the video, Lucy puts her head right through the wooden fence.
And without a moment of hesitation, she slid the bolt open. She had no other tool or even an accomplice.
She did the crime using just her mouth!
After sliding her head through the gate, the black and white sheep cleverly pulls it to open it.
And within seconds, she was able to free her friends to explore the entirety of the farm.
As if a master of her craft, Lucy even checked both ways before committing her escape plan.
She checked left and right to ensure no staff member was coming to see what was happening.
It was clearly not her first time.
Lucy’s video was uploaded to Facebook.
And there, it earned tons of positive comments. One of them said:
“Okay but the craziest part was how she knew she needed to open the gate INWARD. That wasn’t an accidental-push-“oh-look-I’m-free!” situation.”
There was also this person who shared:
“Once she figured it out, there’s no stopping her. She’ll always remember it.”
And apparently, Lucy isn’t the only clever animal around.
Other Facebook users started sharing their stories too.
One of the shared:
“We used to have a horse that would stick her head through the gates and pull them off the hinges. She was also able to open the chicken house. She ran a steer into the chicken house once and locked him in. That was funny to find!”
Never underestimate animals!
This viral video serves as a reminder that we should never underestimate the cognitive abilities of animals.
For sure, they are capable of surprising us with their cleverness and ingenuity.
So the next time you see an animal in action, take a closer look – you might just be witnessing a display of remarkable intelligence.
Watch how Lucy was caught red-handed in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
