Pigeons have just tied with non-human primates in terms of math competence.
Pigeons can not only discriminate quantities, they can also learn abstract mathematical concepts.
Pigeons are on par with primates when it comes to numerical competence.
The study, published in Science, discovered that pigeons can discriminate different amounts of number-like objects, order pairs, and learn abstract mathematical rules. Aside from humans, only rhesus monkeys have exhibited equivalent skills.
Scarf, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago, and colleagues Harlene Hayne and Michael Colombo began by first teaching pigeons how to order the numbers 1, 2 and 3.
To do this, they presented the pigeons with three images containing one, two, or three objects. All three images appeared at once on a touch screen and the pigeons pecked the screen to make a response. If they correctly accomplished the task -- pecking the images in ascending order -- they received a wheat snack.
"We took steps to ensure things like volume could not control responding in training and testing," he said. "For example, during training and testing, the higher numerosity did not always have the largest surface area/volume and thus the pigeons could not respond based on this stimulus dimension."
The images also came in different colors and shapes, so the pigeons weren't somehow linking those qualities to quantity.
Next, the researchers upped the ante, to see whether or not pigeons had just learned to order 1, 2, and 3, or if they'd learned a more abstract rule. Scarf and his team presented the pigeons with pairs of images containing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 objects. The pigeons again had to pair the items in ascending order. For example, if a pigeon saw 8 and 5, it had to peck the objects representing 5 first. "Remarkably, the pigeons were able to respond to these novel pairs correctly," Scarf said. "In addition, their performance was indistinguishable from that of two rhesus monkeys that had been previously trained on this task."
|
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, you would have
produced enough sound energy to heat up one cup of coffee. (Hardly
seems worth it.)
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
(In my next life I want to be pig.)
Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
(Still not over that pig thing.)
Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
(Is that why Flipper is always smiling? And why isn't the pig
included in this list? Maybe 30 minute orgasms aren't as fun as I
imagine...)
On average, people fear spiders more then they do death.
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmmm......)
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own
weight, and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
(From drinking little bottles of....? Did the gov't pay for this
research?)
Polar bears are left handed.
(Who knew? Who cares? Did the gov't pay for this too? Probably...)
The flea can jump 350 times its body length. That's like a human
jumping the length of a football field.
A cockroach will live 9 days without its head before it starves to
death.
The male praying mantis cannot copulate while it's head is attached
to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head
off. (Hi, honey. I'm home. What the...?)
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
(In my next life I still want to be a pig.
Quality over quantity, you know?)
Butterflies taste with their feet. (Oh, jeez!)
Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
(I know some people like that.)
Starfish don't have brains.
(I know some people like this too.)
It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
One human hair can support 6.6 pounds.
The average man's penis is two times the length of his thumb.
Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.
There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
Women blink twice as often as men.
The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.
Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.
If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
Women Will be finished reading this by now.
And Men Are still busy checking their thumbs.
