• Question: Can animals count? cow, dog,snake,giraffe.

    Asked by kelan to Derek, Elaine, Heather, Keith, Bimpe on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Heather Eyre

      Heather Eyre answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Chimps can count, and I’m pretty sure dolphins can too.

      Most claims of pets being able to count turn out to be false – they are just really well trained and take very subtle hints from their owners.

      But that is talking about counting in the human method. Most higher animals can count roughly, other wise they’d never know how much food they have or hoe many babies they should look after!

    • Photo: Keith Siew

      Keith Siew answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Yes most animals have a rudimentary ability to quantify and distinguish which one has more… but as to whether they can tell the difference in specific quantities is different … i.e. they may know 5 is bigger than 2 but may not see that as any different from 5 being bigger than 3… so the magnitude of the difference may not factor in as much in some species.

      But counting is a basic arithmetic ability and its only higher order animals (aka… the more intelligent ones) that would likely have this skill and there would need to be some sort of evolutionary drive for its development… like a complex social structure or culture.

Comments