A new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that baby chickens are not only some of the cutest things around but they are also capable of simple arithmetic, according to Discovery News.
Lead author of the study, Rosa Rugani, said that the study revealed "the very first demonstration of some arithmetic ability in young animals." The chicks showed an ability to work with numbers up to five; human newborns have shown that they can only handle three.
In order to test the theory "that animals and humans share a non-verbal, and even pre-verbal in the case of humans, numerical system" Rugani and her colleagues raised 17 chicks from birth and reared them with five toy balls that the chicks accepted as family, according to Discovery News.
The chicks didn't seem to mind that the balls weren't alive, they still treated them as if they were other chicks. The chicks would follow the balls when they were moved, emit distress calls when the balls were taken away and make soft calls when the ball was returned, according to Discovery News.
The chicks were then put into a containment that had two screens set up. The scientists would dangle the balls to attract the chicks and then put them behind the screen. They would then move the balls back and forth between the two sides. They then observed which way the animals would congregate since chicks almost always go where the larger group is. The test showed that even once the balls were placed out of sight the chicks would go to the screen with more balls showing that they were capable of simple arithmetic, reports Discovery News.
"The domesticated chicken is something of a phenomenon," Christine Nicol, professor of animal welfare at Bristol University, told The Times. "Studies over the past 20 years have revealed their finely honed sensory capacities, their ability to think, draw inferences, apply logic and plan ahead."
