Aspectos gerais dos sentidos da visão, audição e olfato em caprinos e ovinos: uma revisão

Abstract

The senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste—are fundamental tools animalsuse to perceive and interact with their surroundings. Understanding how theseperceptions work is essential for interpreting animal behavior and their responses toexternal stimuli. For a long time, it was believed that these senses had little relevancein the context of animal production, especially in goats and sheep, as they are naturallycalm, docile, and easy to manage. These animals were once thought to have limitedenvironmental perception. However, with the growth of studies on ambiance andwelfare, it has become clear that small ungulates possess well-developed senses, theunderstanding of which is valuable for optimizing management practices aimed atproviding healthier, more comfortable, and less stressful environments. Therefore, thisreview aims to provide an overview of how vision, hearing, and smell function and howthey directly influence the daily lives and well-being of these small ruminants. Athorough search was conducted across various databases, including Google Scholar,PubMed, Elsevier, and others, in both Portuguese and English. Terms such as "theimportance of the senses in animals," "sense of vision," "sense of hearing," and "senseof smell" and their respective translations were used. Next, the search was filtered bymost-cited works, considering the knowledge bases and, whenever possible, the mostrecent materials. Thus, it was concluded that understanding how the sensory systemsof smell, hearing, and vision work helps us understand the different behaviors exhibitedby animals and provides valuable knowledge for those who work with them.