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How monkeys count to get the middle

We share with other species an intriguing similarity in representing numbers in space, from left to right.

Individually distinctive features facilitate numerical discrimination of sets of objects in domestic chicks

We share with other species an intriguing similarity in representing numbers in space, from left to right.

Middle identification for rhesus monkeys is influenced by number but not extent

The goal of this study was to explore if monkeys can learn the abstract concept of middle and if they can apply it to novel item and numbers.

How to make chicks count with a single hemisphere

We share with other species an intriguing similarity in representing numbers in space, from left to right.

When numbers bias chicks’ choices

Most people who read and write from left to right, orientate numbers in the same direction.

Newborn chicks associate numbers and space

In the early 1800s, Sir Francis Galton, a British polymath, showed for the first time that humans describe and think of numbers as being represented on a mental number line oriented from their left to right.

Ordinality in rats

Rats are capable of learning to enter a target tunnel, to find a food, solely on the basis of its ordinal position in an array of six or 18 identical tunnels.

Ordinality in chicks

Domestic chicks, soon after hatching, move and interact with their environment to follow the hen, to join their mates and to find food.

Ordinality in honeybees

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are usually thought of as foragers, who fly flower to flower to collect nectar and pollen.

When animals count

Let’s imagine walking in Florence and looking for a specific restaurant.

The consequences of Clever Hans’ story upon the investigation of animal numerical comprehension

When it was demonstrated that Hans’ mathematical calculations were due to an artifact, unintentionally given from his trainer, the belief on animal numerical capacities was plummeted.

An unfortunate beginning: The story of Clever Hans’ mathematical abilities

An initial attempt to study numerical abilities in animals is the famous story of Clever Hans.