Abstract
The ants Myrmica sabuleti Meinert 1861 can add numbers (as non-symbolic displayed elements) or odors when having perceived them simultaneously. Otherwise, (i.e. having perceived them consecutively), they cannot do so. They can subtract one visual element or an odor when perceiving the result of the subtraction. These ants present a concrete notion of zero when faced to visual or olfactory cues. They locate the zero at the end of a decreasing and at the start of an increasing series of elements, i.e. at its due location. Experimented with smaller and larger numbers, the ants locate the smaller numbers on their left and the larger ones on their right, having thus a mental number line. The ants’ accuracy in discriminating two successive numbers obeys to a logarithmic function of the relative difference between these numbers. Their arrangement of amounts on the number line is thus non-linear but compressed with increasing number magnitude.
Highlights
Experimented with smaller and larger numbers, the ants locate the smaller numbers on their left and the larger ones on their right, having a mental number line
We examined the numerosity ability of the ant M. sabuleti Meinert 1861 in a series of nine successive works
A first step in numerosity ability consists in distinguishing amounts of elements, at least numerically small ones, without counting them, but only ranking them on an ordinal scale
Summary
A first step in numerosity ability consists in distinguishing amounts of elements, at least numerically small ones, without counting them, but only ranking them on an ordinal scale. The ability to use number symbolism has been shown in parrots (who can phonetically represent the numbers 1 to 9) (Pepperberg, 2006), pigeons (Xia et al, 2000) and chimpanzees (who can visually recognize the numbers 1 to 3 and add them: Boysen & Berntson, 1989) The latter species could be trained to use symbols for numbers 1 to 9, but without attaining the humans’ level of abstraction (Biro & Matsuzawa, 2001). Setting the zero at its due mathematical place constitutes effectively a numerosity ability, detained by honeybees and by the vertebrates examined until now as for this topic (grey parrot: Pepperberg & Gordon, 2005; chimpanzee: Biro & Matsuzawa, 2001; rhesus monkey: Merritt et al, 2009; as well as young children: Merritt & Brannon, 2013)
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