Number Sense in Animals
From horses that do math (not really) to counting ants, here's a compilation of my favorite research on the numerical abilities of animals. www.learningnerd.com/number-sense-animals/ I wish I could include more, but I just wanted to show a glimpse of the variety of research being done; it's exciting to find that we're still learning so much more about such a seemingly simple ability like recognizing quantities, and that it can be traced all the way back to insects! If anyone wants to lend me, say, a penguin or a giraffe to study, I'd love to contribute to this growing body of research. ;) Media Credits: "Fig Leaf Rag" performed by Kevin MacLeod Incompetech.com Heyn, E. T. (1904, September 4). Berlin's wonderful horse; He can do almost everything but talk — How he was taught. The New York Times. query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E02E2D91F3AE733A25757C0A96F9C946597D6CF (1904, October 2). "Clever Hans" again. Expert commision decides that the horse actually reasons. The New York Times. query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B03E7D61E3BE631A25751C0A9669D946597D6CF Pet Star: Golden Nugget Animal Planet animal.discovery.com/videos/pet-star-pet-star-golden-nugget.html The Tiniest Dog in the World The Oprah Winfrey Show www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Maggie-the-Dog-Does-Math Group photo of teachers Municipal Archives of Trondheim www.flickr.com/photos/trondheim_byarkiv/7850316342/in/photostream/ Piaget on Piaget: The Epistemology of Jean Piaget (1977) by Yale University Films www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1JWr4G8YLM Wittlinger, M., Wehner, R., & Wolf, H. (2006). The ant odometer: stepping on stilts and stumps. Science, 312(5782), 1965-1967. www.sciencemag.org/content/312/5782/1965.short Gross, H. J., Pahl, M., Si, A., Zhu, H., Tautz, J., & Zhang, S. (2009). Number-based visual generalisation in the honeybee. PLoS ONE 4(1): e4263. www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004263 "Divertissment" performed by Kevin MacLeod Incompetech.com NPR Science: Ants That Count! by Robert Krulwich and OddTodd www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/06/01/120587095/ants-that-count www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DDF8WZFnoU Agrillo, C., Piffer, L., Bisazza, A. & Butterworth, B. (2012). Evidence for two numerical systems that are similar in humans and guppies. PLOS One, 7(2), e31923. www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0031923 Number sense test for humans: www.panamath.org/ Human Ape National Geographic Clip available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJAH4ZJBiN8 Bird Brainiac Extraordinary Animals Animal Planet animal.discovery.com/videos/extraordinary-animals-bird-brainiac.html www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Fpad20Zbk What Makes a Genius? BBC Horizon Clip featuring Dr. Justin Halberda www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qzlbv Krusche, P., Uller, C. & Dicke, U. (2010). Quantity discrimination in salamanders. The Journal Of Experimental Biology, 213(11), 1822-1828. jeb.biologists.org/content/213/11/1822.full Rugani, R., Fontanari, L., Simoni, E., Regolin, L., & Vallortigara, G. (2009). Arithmetic in newborn chicks. Proc. Biol. Sci. 276, 2451--2460. rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/03/26/rspb.2009.0044.full Video: vimeo.com/37569633 Flute Concerto in G Major, K. 212 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Musopen.org Video game sound effect by HardPCM on FreeSound.org Related links, references, transcript, credits: www.learningnerd.com/number-sense-animals/
