Stimulus Response

See hens completing obstacle courses and learning from watching television and sheep showing they can tell the sound of the farmer’s Land Rover apart from other cars. Watch pigs using their intelligence to beat a computer system and grab an extra meal.

26 minutes - for ages 14 to adult

Educational films from the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB)

This film was made by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, a charity whose members are largely professional biologists working in universities, research institutes and schools.

ASAB's aim is to promote the scientific study of animal behaviour, for example, through its ownership of the leading international academic journal in its field and producing resources, like this film, to encourage the teaching of animal behaviour in schools.

Stimulus Response was produced in conjunction with scientists from Cambridge and Bristol. It describes how farm animals respond to a variety of stimuli through reflexes and various levels of learning, some remarkable. Pigs demonstrate how they perceive stimuli in the first moments of life, and demonstrate their remarkable sensory receptors. Hens run obstacle courses and show that they, too, have the mental co-ordination to learn from videos! Calves make us aware of internal as well as external effectors and sheep show their maternal instincts and learning abilities.

The film is suitable for Biology and Psychology courses and for use in any education programme which aims to promote empathy for farm animals.

(NB ASAB’s other video Let's Ask the Animals is also strongly recommended for older primary students).

Order Film

The film is available free to schools and colleges, otherwise for £5 and can be ordered online. It is also available from ASAB.

Watch online or download

The Stimulus Response film and some other education films are available on our Vimeo channel. Others are on our YouTube channel.

Please download this film to save on your computer or network in wmv format. For higher resolution or other formats of this or our other education films, please go to our film download site.