Can your cat count?

Believe it or not, we spend an awful lot of time in the MyMaths office thinking and talking about MATHS, and sometimes end up having heated debates on vital issues such as whether or not animals can count.  Or, indeed, do maths.

Back in the 1800s Clever Hans, the mathematical horse, astounded the whole of Germany with his mostly correct answers to a whole range of mathematical problems including basic square roots and fractions, until it was realised that the horse was responding to subconsciously supplied clues from the human questioner.  One member of the MyMaths team swears blind that her cat counts the spoonfuls of food put into her (ie the cat's) bowl every day, though we have yet to independently verify that claim.  The jury is still also out on tales of animals like Alex the African grey parrot who it was said could count up to six and do sums, and also the lions who when they hear a neighbouring pride roaring, calculate how many lions are roaring compared to how many are in their own pride before deciding whether or not it would be prudent to roar back.

But some recent studies have uncovered what appear to be counting skills in different species that suggest mathematical ability could be innate.  A recent experiment where robins were presented with holes in logs filled with varying numbers of worms, the robins immediately flocked to the holes with most worms.  If some of the worms were removed when the robins weren't looking, they would then scour the holes for the missing worms, and it was deduced from the experiment that they could identify numbers up to 12. If you've noticed similar behaviour among the birds in your back garden, or if your cat is looking at you in a funny way when  you feed her, do please let us know (mail@mymaths.co.uk)!