Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Star-spotting sheep know who ewe are
SHEEP have demonstrated an ability to recognise the faces of famous people.
Research showed they could be taught to pick between images of celebrities, using food rewards.
The Cambridge University team trained eight sheep to spot four famous faces – TV journalist Fiona Bruce, actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Emma Watson and former US President Barack Obama.
Lead scientist Prof Jenny Morton said: “Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who recognise their handlers.
“Sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, comparable with humans and monkeys.”
The findings feature in journal Open Science.
ON BORIS JOHNSON’S GAFFE
BORIS Johnson has been slammed by a fellow Tory MP after refusing to apologise for comments that left a Brit facing years in an Iranian jail.
Anna Soubry yesterday branded the Foreign Secretary “shameful” over his failure to say sorry for jeopardising mum Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe’s case.
He was also criticised after it emerged he has not met her family since she was first sentenced 19 months ago.
Mr Johnson admitted he “could have been clearer” when he said Nazanin was training journalists in Iran, even though the remark could result in her spending five more years in prison there.
Ms Soubry said: “The lack of contrition is as shameful as the original error. Boris doesn’t understand the magnitude of the job and responsibility he holds.”
Nazanin, 38, was taking daughter Gabriella to see her grandparents when she was arrested at Tehran airport last April. The dual British-iranian national was accused of trying to overthrow the regime and jailed for five years. Last week Mr Johnson told a committee of MPS she was there to train journalists – a claim furiously denied by her employer Thomson Reuters and her family.
But Iran seized on it as proof Nazanin was engaged in “propaganda against the regime” and hauled her to court on fresh charges.
Mr Johnson yesterday phoned his counterpart Javad Zarif to say there was “no justifiable basis” for further legal