🇬🇧 (Spanish version below)
One of the first things we teach our children is to count: one, two, three, four... We have books, songs, and a series of inventions and strategies dedicated to facilitating this task.
And I suppose that in some unconscious way, we attribute this "abstract" ability exclusively to man.
But scientists have long noted that humans are not the only species capable of counting.
In 1979, two scientists, Pamela Egremont and Miriam Rothschild, published a study with the suggestive name "Calculating cormorants."
To do so, they looked at an ancient fishing technique used in China and Japan.
It turns out that cormorants, those magnificent birds shown in the photograph, are excellent fishermen.
They dive into the water with a swift and extraordinary ability to catch fish.
Eastern fishermen have also been adept at taking advantage of this property of cormorants.
They carry a cormorant tied to their boat with a ring around its neck. Every time the cormorants catch a fish, they make the bird regurgitate it thanks to the ring.
But to keep the cormorant motivated, they let him eat one fish out of seven.
If the fisherman doesn't respect the deal, the cormorant rebels and stops fishing.
So Pamela and Miriam, observing this curious fact, realized that cormorants can count.
At least up to seven.
As Dr. Adrian Burton, Ph.D., comments in a delightful article published in
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, it is possible that scientific publication would fail to pass publication standards today.
But it opened the minds of scientists worldwide to the possibility that other species might count.
And since today, we have scientific evidence that lions, hyenas, frogs, bees, some fish, parrots, chickens, ... and many other species have some numerical ability that is useful to them in their environment.
A hug,
María, veterinary scientist.
To deep on
https://grahamshawcross.com/2015/06/26/counting-cormorants/
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.1927
https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/12/2/181/2682718?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Boysen ST, Berntson GG (1989) Numerical competence in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol 103:23–31 Byrne R (1995) The thinking ape: evolutionary origins of intelligence. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Capaldi EJ, Miller DJ (1988) Counting in rats: its functional significance and the independent cognitive processes which comprise it. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Processes 14:3–17
Davis H, Perusse R (1988) Numerical competence in animals: De- finitional issues, current evidence, and a new research agenda.
Behav Brain Sci 11:561–615 Gelman R, Gallistel CR (1978) The child’s understanding of number. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Hauser MD (1997) Math without words. Nat Hist 106:52–55 Hauser MD, MacNeilage P, Ware M (1996) Numerical representations in primates. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 3:1514–1517
Harvey PH, Pagel MD (1991) The comparative method in evolutionary biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Pepperberg IM (1991) A communicative approach to animal cognition: a study of conceptual abilities of an African grey parrot. In: Ristau CA (ed) Cognitive ethology, the minds of other animals. LEA, New Jersey. pp 153–177
Povinelli DJ, Eddy TJ (1996a) What young chimpanzees know about seeing. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 61 (2, serial no. 247) Povinelli DJ, Eddy TJ (1996b) Factors influencing young chim- panzees’ (Pan troglodytes) recognition of attention. J Comp
Psychol 110:336–345Wynn K (1992) Addition and subtraction by human infants. Nature 358:749–750
🇪🇸
Una de las primeras cosas que enseñamos a nuestros hijos es a contar: uno, dos, tres, cuatro… Tenemos libros, canciones, y toda una serie de inventos y estrategias dedicados a facilitarnos esta tarea.
Y supongo que de alguna manera inconsciente atribuimos esta capacidad tan “abstracta” exclusivamente al hombre.
Pero ya hace tiempo que los científicos han observado que los humanos no son la única especie capaz de contar.
En 1979, dos científicas Pamela Egremont y Miriam Rothschild publicaron un estudio con el sugerente nombre de “Calculating cormorants”.
Para ello se pararon a observar una técnica de pesca milenaria de China y Japón.
Resulta los cormoranes, que son esas magníficas aves que muestra la fotografía, pescan de maravilla.
Se sumergen en el agua con un veloz chapuzón y tienen una extraordinaria habilidad para capturar peces.
Los pescadores orientales también han sido muy hábiles aprovechando esta propiedad de los cormoranes.
Llevan un cormorán atado a su barca con una argolla en el cuello. Cada vez que los cormoranes pescan un pez hacen que el ave lo regurgite gracias a la argolla.
Pero para mantener motivado al cormorán resulta que le dejan que se coma un pez de cada 7.
Si el pescador no respeta el trato, el cormorán se revela y deja de pescar.
Así que Pamela y Miriam al observar este hecho tan curioso, se dieron cuenta de que los cormoranes saben contar.
Al menos hasta siete.
Como el Dr. Adrian Burton, comenta en un delicioso artículo publicado en
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment es posible que, hoy en día, esa publicación científica no pasara los estándares para ser publicada.
Pero abrió la mente a científic@s de todo el mundo a la posibilidad de que otras especies pudieran contar.
Y como hoy en día tenemos evidencia científica de que leones, hienas, ranas, abejas, algunos peces, loros, pollos, … y otros muchas especies tienen algún tipo de capacidad numérica que les resulta útil en su entorno.
Un abrazo
Txus, veterinaria científica.