
The animal kingdom’s mathematicians, with Brian Butterworth
Instant Genius
00:00
Are All Animals That Have Numerical Ability Social?
Are all animals that have numerical abilities social, or do you find it in animals that are the apt alone as well? This is a terrifically good question, and i was once asked this a few years ago by a student. There are solitary animals that have been tested, and one of them is north american bears,. They only interact very occasionally in order to mate. And they seem to have a reasonable numerical ability as well. So it probably isn't necessary for the animals to be social. But since most animals are social, clearly it helps them in their social life to be able to count the number of friends or the number of enemies and make decisions accordingly.
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