Many assume that mathematical activity is reserved for human beings. In a sense, they are right as other creatures do not use maths the way we do. However, in order to survive, different creatures can perform different ranges of activities, exhibiting fascinating ‘mathematical’ feats.
As explained in this page’s main article, honeybees do a mathematically optimal job when constructing honeycombs. Most creatures possess remarkable navigation abilities. The Tunisian desert ant wanders for up to 50 metres until it stumbles across a dead insect’s remains, bites a piece and finds its way back to its nest by going exactly in the opposite direction. If moved when it finds its food, it goes back as if it was not, covering the same distance. Naturally, it then searches bewilderedly for its nest.
The list of seemingly mathematical animal abilities goes on endlessly. What about counting? Animals have varying degrees of number sense.
Experiments showed that Serengeti lions can tell if their group outnumbers another. The same was observed for monkeys and hyenas. Guppies prefer to swim in larger shoals. Wolves discriminate larger numbers than dogs when presented with food items; domestication may have affected dogs. In order to find a mate of the right species, female frogs count the number of pulses in a male’s croak. Bees use counting for navigation. In the 1990s, experimenters placed tent structures along bees’ routes between the hive and food, and found that bees remembered how far they had travelled by counting the landmarks.
In Japan, a chimpanzee called Ai learned to tap on the numeric symbol for the number of dots shown. Chimps can do basic maths beyond counting. In a 1987 experiment, chimps had to compare the sum of chocolates in two bowls with that of another two bowls. 90 per cent of the time, they judged correctly which was larger.
As Katie Silver put it in her BBC article ‘The animals that have evolved the ability to count’ (26/08/2015): “Whether the animal in question is counting potential rivals, deciding which shoal to swim in, or filling out a tax return, a knack for counting is a basic life skill.”