Which animals can count and understand simple math?
The idea of an animal that can count or make mathematics can look like something of a new viral or a tiktok video. But a feeling of quantity, sometimes called “numbers”, appears through a surprising range of species.
So what animals can count and understand simple mathematics?
“Many species, including insects, molluscs, lizards, birds and many types of mammals (land life and life at sea) can distinguish between quantities of things”, ” Michael BeranProfessor of psychology at the Georgia State University, told Live Science in an email. This capacity has the evolutionary advantage of helping animals to find more food, thus helping them to stay alive and to transmit their Genoa.
For example, research has shown that bees (Melllifera API) Count the landmarks While stealing towards flowers rich in nectar. Golden orb spiders (Nephila clavipes) Keep a trace of the number of insects taken in their paintings.
Túngara frogs (Physalaemus pustulosus) Even digital stage duels as part of their mating ritual: a male makes a crying appeal which ends with a strange and in short sound called a “mandrel”, and another male frog responds with an additional chuck. This competition continues, with an increasing number of chucks, until they run out.
Lioness (Panthera Leo) Weigh their chances in combat by counting the number of roars of rival pride which approaches before deciding to attack or withdraw.
And, in 2024, the researchers discovered that Carbeals of carrion (Corvus Corone) are able to vocalize a specific number of caws in response to visual or hearing clues, allowing them to count aloud between one and four.
But it is likely that these species “cannot count in the way we mean this in humans,” said Beran.
Instead, many animals have a cognitive tool that scientists call the approximate (years) or “sense of numbers”, Giorgio VallortigaraProfessor of neuroscience at the University of Trento in Italy, told Live Science. The IS seems to rely on “digital neurons”, nerve cells that show a maximum response to specific quantities, he said. “Interesting, we found these neurons even in newly hatched chicks, suggesting that the years could be innate.”
In relation: When were mathematics invented?
This “sense of numbers” does not work as counting on the fingers – it is more a question of making quick comparisons. Its two decisive features are the distance effect and the size effect. The distance effect is the idea that it is easier to distinguish numbers that are more distant, such as 8 and 4, compared to 8 and 6, and the size effect is the idea that it is easier to compare the numbers smaller than the larger ones, even if the difference is the same. For example, it is easier to compare 2 and 4 than to compare 12 and 14, said Vallortigara.
The years follows Weber’s law, which stipulates that animals perceive the differences in quantities according to the ratios rather than absolute quantities, Irene Pepperbergauxiliary research teacher at the University of Boston who worked with famous Alex the parrotsaid science live.
Pepperberg and Beran said that the ability to estimate the quantities using the years is very different from the human capacity to count, which implies knowing that a figure like “4” means exactly four things, whether they are traffic jams, keys or balls. The real counting, explained Pepperberg, also involves learning symbols, understanding the value represented by each figure and knowing their order. Human children need years of learning to fully grasp these ideas, and “only very few non -humans” – Alex the parrot and two chimpanzees Sheba And IA – “took anywhere near real counting,” said Pepperberg.
Alex the parrot could Identify and order the Arabic figures correctly From one to eight and even add two sets of objects, such as crackers or jelly beans.
Can animals make mathematics?
For many researchers, counting is considered to be a Precursor and foundation of mathematicsBut not really mathematics itself. Thus, although many animals seem capable of basic counting – at least with regard to changes in quantity of quantity, the vast majority do not really make mathematics, which at a basic level implies arithmetic: numbers and symbols which are used to make the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
“The formal arithmetic of the genre that our children learn at school is clearly a fairly recent cultural invention,” said Vallortigara. Certain traditional societies, such as the Himba tribe in Namibia, always count on the SNA to estimate the quantitieshe said. With the rise of agriculture And BreedingHumans needed more precise calculations, probably giving birth to formal arithmetic.
However, scientists have designed intelligent experiences to show that some selected species could manage simple mathematics, such as addition and subtraction, said Beran.
When trained to associate certain colors or symbols with arithmetic operations, several animal species – including African gray parrots,, pigeons,, Some primates,, bees,, rays and cichlids – have demonstrated the capacity to add up and basic subtraction with small numbers. In these experiences, animals have learned to interpret the visual signals (like a blue point to “add”), then apply these rules to solve simple mathematical problems.
“And, perhaps, with creative conceptions, even certain forms of multiplication and division, which are really only special cases of addition / subtraction [might be possible]”Said Beran.
But if mathematics involve larger numbers – such as 12 + 22 resolution – or more complex formulas, such as those used in algebra, “then the case is much lower for non -human animal capacities for arithmetic,” said Beran.
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