We are not the only ones to do life to life.
Nowadays, virtually nobody is math: we have the mobile phones that save us this “worker”. But in the animal world, other species have no calculator. Some have, yes, “Numerical sense”.
Yes, there are animals in nature that can tell and understand basic mathematics: Estimate quantities, make decisions and even perform simple operations.
As for us, mathematics is for these five animals fundamental to survival. Instead of helping to fill the IRS, it serves to find food, for protection against predators or even to compete for territory.
1. Bee
Bees show impressive mathematical abilities. They can count reference points on the way to the flowers with nectar and even add and subtract small amounts when trained with colors and symbols.
In a study at Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, bees learned to distinguish even odd numbers with an effectiveness rate of up to 80%.
2. Fish
Researchers, led by neuropsychologist Brian Butterworth, showed that some fish can tell and use this ability to make group decisions.
Cycles (a family of freshwater fish), for example, identify where there are more individuals of their species within an aquarium and join larger groups as a defense strategy against predators, according to. When two fish with different precision levels come together, they can make better decisions than in isolation, suggesting collective use of counting.
3. Corvo
Known for their intelligence, crows can vocalize numbers accurately.
In a study at Science, Ravens were able to issue a specific number of screams (one to four) in response to visual or sound stimuli. This ability suggests an active and intentional count. Moreover, they demonstrate abstract numerical concepts, such as the difference between “more” and “less”, and even the concept of zero.
4. Parrot
Alex, a soul parrot, was trained by scientist Irene Pepperberg and is a famous case in science. He learned to recognize numbers from 1 to 8, identify quantities and even perform simple addition operations.
Alex also understood that the number represented an exact amount, which places it among the rare animals that approached the human symbolic count.
5. Chimpanzee
Bonobo or chimpanzee-pigmeu
The chimpanzees participated in studies that demonstrated their ability to recognize numerical symbols, understand orders of greatness and perform simple additions. They knew, for example, that the number “3” represents three items, regardless of the object.
Although they do not use mathematics in the same way as humans, their brains have shown an advanced ability to estimate and compare quantities based on visual symbols.
