Surprised with the ability to know even and odd numbers of honey bees

A published study shows that honey bees can learn to calculate even and odd numbers just like humans. 

The learning and cognitive abilities of animals are still a mystery to scientists.

As children, we learned to distinguish between even and odd numbers. Accordingly, the rule that numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 are odd while numbers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 are even has become a. pretty thing. apparent.

To date, the classification between even and odd, also known as the parity classification, has never been recorded in non-human animals. But in a study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, scientists in Australia discovered this unique ability in honey bees for the first time.

How do scientists teach bees to count?

Bees trained through associating odd numbers with sugar water learn faster.

In the past, several studies have shown that honey bees can learn to sort numbers, perform simple addition and subtraction, and associate symbols with quantities.

To teach bees to count even and odd numbers, the researchers split individuals into two groups: One group was trained to associate even numbers with sugar water, and the other group was trained to associate odd numbers with flavored liquids. bitter. Then they do the opposite.

In the final round, they trained each bee by comparing odd to even numbers with cards printed with numbers 1-10, until they chose the correct answer with 80% accuracy. .

In particular, bees trained through the association of odd numbers with sugar water will learn faster. This is said to be in contrast to humans, as we tend to classify even numbers better.

Why even and odd?

The task of distinguishing even - odd has long been considered a high-level and abstract arithmetic concept, unique to humans. The interesting thing is that humans can make connections in many areas such as accuracy, speed, language and bias. when sorting odd or even numbers.

For example, we tend to respond more quickly to even numbers by relating them to actions performed by the right hand. Similar are odd numbers with actions performed by the left hand.

Studies suggest that humans may have learned innate biases about even and odd numbers, which may have arisen through centuries of evolution.

Therefore, understanding how and how other animals perceive even and odd numbers can help us learn more about the history of humanity itself.

In addition, the results of the study also help us understand more about how mathematics and abstract thinking form in humans, through the small brain, consisting of only 960,000 neurons, in bees. secret, but can still understand the concepts of even and odd numbers and distinguish them no less than a human (with 86 billion neurons), if they are properly trained.