Abstract
It has been previously shown that workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti can add up numbers of elements when seeing the result of the operation during training, can acquire multiple numerical symbolisms and can make additions using learned numeric symbols. They have also been shown to acquire the notion of zero through experiences. Here, we examined if these ants can associate a symbol with zero and can use this symbol to add. Working on four colonies, we found that the ants acquired a numerical symbolism for zero, and that they used this acquisition for making the additions 1 + 0, 2 + 0, 3 + 0, 4 + 0. This ability simply resulted from operative conditioning and from the ants’ capability in adding up two amounts sighted side by side. The latter imperative condition shows that ants’ numerical cognitive faculties are at a lower level than that observed in honeybees, in some birds and monkeys.
Highlights
It has been previously shown that workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti can add up numbers of elements when seeing the result of the operation during training, can acquire multiple numerical symbolisms and can make additions using learned numeric symbols
We found that the ants acquired a numerical symbolism for zero, and that they used this acquisition for making the additions 1 + 0, 2 + 0, 3 + 0, 4 + 0
Numerical symbolism consists in associating each number with a corresponding symbol, and this has been shown to be achieved by pigeons, a parrot, primates as well as bees
Summary
The ability to assess relative quantities of elements (quantity discrimination) has been observed, among others, in fishes (Agrillo, Dadda, Serena, & Bisazza, 2009; Stancher, Sovrano, Potrich, & Vallortigara, 2013; Agrillo, Miletto Petrazzini, & Bisazza, 2017), frogs (Stancher, Rugani, Regolin, & Villortigara, 2015; Rose, 2018), salamanders (Uller, Jaeger, Guidry, & Martin, 2003; Krusche, Uller, & Dicke, 2010;), birds (Garland, Low, & Burns, 2012; Tornick, Callahan, & Gibson, 2015; Rugani, Villortigara, & Regolin, 2014; Hunt, Low & Burns, 2008; Pepperberg & Gordon, 2005; Ditz & Nieder, 2016), rats (Cox & Montrose, 2016), canids (Baker, Morath, Rodzon, & Jordan, 2012; Range, Jenikejew, Schröder, & Virányi, 2014), elephants (Perdue, Talbot, Stone, & Beran, 2012; Irie, Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, & Kutsukake, 2019); monkeys (Addessi, Crescimbene, & Visalberghi, 2008; Beran, 2008) and adult apes (Woodruff & Premack, 1981; Hauser, Carey, & Hauser, 2000; Tomonaga, 2008), and in spiders (Rodriguez, Briceno, Briceno-Aguilar, & Höbel, 2015; Cross & Jackson, 2017) and in the mealworm beetle (Carazo, Fernandez-Perea, & Font, 2012).Precise counting (i.e. a one-to-one correspondence: Matsuzawa, 2009) is a prerequisite to the ability of adding up or subtracting numbers of elements. Arabic numerals 0 to 9 could be associated with their corresponding number of food items by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta: Washburn & Rumbauch, 1991), squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus: Olthof, Iden, & Roberts, 1997), as well as by capuchin (Cebus apella) and rhesus monkeys (Beran, Harris, Evans, Klein, Chan, Flemming, & Washburn, 2008). The latter species could perform the task above chance level in presence of a novel situation (Beran, et al, 2008). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) can be learned to associate Arabic numbers with 1 to 7 or 9 elements ijb.ccsenet.org
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