Counting cats...

Thank you for the great responses to our recent post about whether or not animals can count; we’re glad to see some of you have been carrying out your own experiments.

Olivia reports that she tried the following:

“Today I put my cat’s food very slowly in his bowl just to see if he would notice. He very slowly moved his head in time with me spooning it into his bowl. After giving him 12 pieces, he looked up at me, and whilst doing so, I removed 2 pieces. He then looked back and stared at me as if he had noticed!”

Jesse, aged 15, from Flitwick, says that:

“Yep animals can count! Try this with your dog: Take three biscuits and put them in your pocket with your dog or cat or indeed parrot watching you. Give the animal two of them. Your animal will have counted the biscuits into your pocket. And counted them out of your pocket noticing that there is still one left. Done!”

Keep the evidence coming in – we need to know more, and not just about cats – if your lizard, gerbil, rabbit or other pets can count, let us know! mail@mymaths.co.uk