Counting Sheep

The problem of applying a measure of psychology to animals is that they cannot actually confirm or refute the findings.It is all very well undertaking detailed studies, sampling and attaching electrodes but when it comes down to the published findings and deductions the subjects themselves remain silent although may show a reaction in other immeasurable ways. I raise this point after being very amused and bemused by a radio discussion on the scientific investigation into the collective consciousness of certain species in the natural world. The study of memory amongst the natural world has been called Morphic Resonance and has been the life work of one specific Professor for decades. The underlying premise is that if one creature of a particular species makes a defined progress in a task then this is immediately conveyed to the remainder in some sub-conscious connective way. This transfer of knowledge knows no bounds and can be received locally, nationally or on a world wide basis. The best illustration of such phenomema involves the rolling sheep of Wales. The townspeople of a settlement in Wales were afflicted by the trespass of hordes of sheep into their gardens and also the communal parks and grounds. Hungry sheep do a lot of damage and the residents demanded an explanation on why this had taken place when there had, in living memomry, been no previous cases of sheep leaving the fields and moors surrounding the town. The roadways from the pasture areas had longstanding general purpose cattle grids. These were to the global design of narrow cross beams and at a wide enough spacing to deter even a tentative break for freedom. The sheep would often loiter close to the grids looking with a mixture of intent and vagueness to where the other grass was always of greener, lusher appearance. If there was mischief involved, such as the act of sabotage by locals in laying a plank or boarding across the grid, then why not a full urban invasion by all the occupants of the pasture which included many cows. There were no breaches in the hedges, fences and railings along the whole extended boundary. No signs of excessive wool strands or worse on the barbed wire. No sheep carcasses spreadeagled over the hedges as a sacrificial lamb to the escape of the many. No cunningly positioned barrels and planks for catapulting escapees over the fences. Sheep are not known for tunnelling. No carefully fabricated giant wheeled battering rams with a hollowed out inside to trick the farmers into bringing the contraption into the town. The means of thwarting the cattle grids remained a closely protected secret amongst the sheep fraternity. That was until strange behaviour was observed by walkers and hikers one foggy morning. The murky start to the day provided good cover for the sheep but equally a concealed vantage point for the human onlookers. A lone sheep walked up to the grid , kneeled down in a sheepish manner and then purposely fell over onto the metal bars. The sheep then proceeded to flip and roll and by doing so was able to clear the obstruction before righting itself on the forbidden town side. This was imitated by the massed ranks of sheep until all were across and cavorting down to the gorgeous vegetation in the private gardens and public parks. Reporting of this phenomena in the local paper and dissipation over the following months via the internet soon led to the compilation of a dossier on the same practice taking place in the main sheep farming areas of Australia, the United States, South America and where the cattle grid was now seen as an obsolete means of containing the woolly masses. I believe that the Professorial interest in this matter has not however included any actual recorded proof in film, video or on mobile phones anywhere in the world. Proposals have been made for a competition with a tangible prize for the first verifiable proof of a rolling sheep. Faced with a wide scope for falsification and trickery, mainly involving people in remote locations in sheep-suits, this may not be an actual practical thing to do with any credible results for presentation to the sceptical scientific world.