MONKEY MATH: STUDY SHOWS THAT MONKEYS UNDERSTAND NUMBERS.

 

Some people scoff at the idea that we, as human, could descend from such primitive animals as a monkeys.

But such disdain, whether it is motivated by faith or not, does not take into account the incredible similarities we share with our animal counterparts. Indeed we share 99% of their DNA, and like us, they are able of certain complex brain processes like we are.  

One of them, has just been discovered, is understanding the concept of numbers.  Baboons in the laboratory have among other similarities, opposing thumbs, expressive faces, social systems that go beyond the pack hierarchy and many others.  

But the new study, which used peanuts for numbering purposes, shows that they have another very important shared trait: the ability to understand numbers.  

Where does this ability to conceptualize numbers come from? It seems they are just as good at discerning different quantities as we do. 

This quality in monkeys is fundamental.  It has been this ability that has propelled humans to the state we enjoy today.  Of course humans quantified this ability and put faces to numbers so to speak, but in consideration of the fact that monkey cannot speak, this ability is quite astounding.  

Eight olive baboons used in the study, were placed in trials where they had to guess which cup had the most peanuts.  A row of cups with different numbers of peanuts were then placed in front of them.  The baboons received all the peanuts in the cups they chose, independently from the fact of which cup contained what peanuts.  

The baboons however, guessed the larger quantity 75% of the time when the relative quantity of peanuts showed significant difference.  When the quantities were similar in number their accuracy fell to about 55%.  

The baboons were able to discriminate by using the more than or less than cognitive approach. They were then, able to discriminate pairs with numbers higher than three as long as the difference in quantity between cups was discreet.

This is very important, because in humans, children that have not been taught numbers yet, use the same exact ability to discern quantity.

The study also showed that baboons not only have the ability to understand numbers and to solve numerical problems, but that these abilities are innate, not taught.  

Source: Science daily  5.4.13