In this week’s discovering mathematics input, we looked into the origins of numbers and how number systems came about and also the big question; can animals count?
We first looked into Clever Hans, a horse that was known for his miraculous ability to ‘count’. When Hans’ owner asked him a basic sum, such as 3 plus 1, the horse would answer the question by tapping his hoof the correct number of times. The horse raised many questions to how he was able to acknowledge the question, then calculate the answer and then finally give his answer. It was then discovered after many scientific observations that the horse was in fact not able to calculate his owner’s questions, but was able to study his body language and cues. No one can dispute the horse’s intelligence; however, he could not count.
After learning about Clever Hans, I wanted to look into whether there have been other occasions where it has been speculated that animals can count. The question has been raised that if an animal is able to work out if a quantity of something e.g. how many animals are in a pack, is larger or smaller if that means they can count? An example of this is Lions. The concept of lions being able to count was tested by Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. Lions are highly territorial animals and will only attack another pack of lions if there are more in their own pack. So, the idea behind the experiment was to play the sound of a pack of lions and observe whether or not the lions would choose to run towards the sound or stay back. After playing the sound of a roar of 3 lions, the 5 lions that were a part of the experiment ran towards the noise. McComb stated “Lions were extremely good at weighing up their odds of success in terms of the number of themselves versus the number roaring from a loudspeaker”. However, it was discovered that after the roars on the loud speaker were upped to 6 lions, the lions in the experiment started to get confused whether or not they should attack or not (Silver, 2017). After looking into this experiment, there is no doubt that the lions were able to examine the situation and determine if it was safe for them to attack or not. However, whether they can count or not? I’m not convinced.
Silver, K. (2017). The animals that have evolved the ability to count. [online] Bbc.co.uk. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20150826-the-animals-that-can-count [Accessed 23 Oct. 2.
