Chicks know how to do calculations

Chickens always walk towards the more glossy font.Photo: BBC.

Italian scientists have just proved that a few days old chicks can count, add and subtract.

Chicks always try to stand near objects in front of them. It is an instinctive reflex because they are accustomed to following and standing close to their mother from birth. Scientists from the University of Padova (Italy) discovered that, if chickens are split into several groups, chicks often run to the largest group. The same situation occurs when they see an object.

To find out if chickens are capable of counting, animal behavior experts at Trento University and Padova University lock up a chicken in a glass case and let it see two plastic balls. One string has two fruits and the other has three results. After putting two balls behind the backdrops, the team released the chicken. The animal stood still for a few seconds as if to think, then stepped behind the three-balled font.

In the second test, the experts swapped the two ball positions, but the animal still walked towards the more glossy font. During the third test, the team hid two balls behind the backdrops, then pulled one more in the string and put in less strings. When the chicken is released, it observes both strings, then near the string with three balls.

"Chicks can distinguish the ball from the ball more easily by counting. Even if we reduce a ball from a lot of strings and increase a ball in a less string, it still recognizes. That proves that they have a concept. about addition and subtraction " , Professor Lucia Regolin, the leader of the research team, said.

Many previous studies have shown that monkeys and many primates can count. Even pet dogs can do addition. But this is the first time scientists have proven that newborn and untrained chicks are also capable of counting.