Listen: Sheep recognising celebs a medical 'breakthrough'

Research shows that sheep can recognise people. Photo / Filed

Sheep are much better at recognising human faces than previously thought.

New research by Cambridge University shows they recognise celebrities' faces 80 per cent of the time when looking straight on.

See story: Sheep recognise photo of Obama

Lead researcher and Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cambridge, Jenny Morton said she was surprised sheep could recognise people.

She told Mike Hosking in an interview on Newstalk ZB she was astounded they could make sense of photographs, given many animals can't.

"I was surprised at the fact that they could recognise a face from a photograph, that was a bit a surprising.'

Morton said it's a breakthrough for researchers trying to find treatments for Huntington's.

"Once we can measure difference between a normal sheep and a transgenic sheep then we can actually start testing therapies as well."

Listen to Jenny Morton speak with Mike Hosking below: