‘Matador’ With a Radio Stops Wired Bull

Modified Behavior in Animals Subject of Brain Study


John A. Osmundsen

New York Times, May 17, 1965, pages 1, 20



Afternoon sunlight poured over the high wooden barriers into the ring as the brave bull bore down on the unarmed “matador”—a scientist who had never faced a fighting bull.

But the charging animal’s horns never reached the man behind the heavy red cape. Moments before that could happen, Dr. José M. R. Delgado, the scientist, pressed a button on a small radio transmitter in his hand, and the bull braked to a halt.

Then, he pressed another button on the transmitter and the bull obediently turned to the right and trotted away.