Sheep were individually assessed in spatial maze Layout 1 of Fig. 1 at 41 weeks of age, and in Layout 2 of Fig. 1 at 83 and 95 weeks of age. A change in maze layout was necessary, as some of the sheep were already familiar with the former layout (used in long-term spatial memory assessment at 45 weeks of age as reported by Hough et al., 2016). Each sheep was given three maze attempts within the same day (each attempt separated by ∼2 h) to traverse the maze and reunite with flock members in the audience pen. Approximately 30 sheep were assessed per day and kept in the audience pen throughout the day with ad libitum access to water and hay. During each maze attempt, a sheep was calmly ushered from the audience pen to the start of the maze. Sheep that failed to complete the maze within a 5 min time limit, were ushered back to the audience pen via the maze entrance so that the correct route remained unknown. On the last attempt of the day, unsuccessful sheep proceeded to the audience pen via the quickest route Spatial orientation was assessed as the performance of sheep in the first spatial maze attempt of the day, at each age. Spatial learning was assessed as the performance of sheep over three maze attempts within the same day, at each age.