The baboon knows how to count

Baboons can accurately differentiate a small or more number of different objects.

Jessica Cantlon, an assistant professor at the University of Rochester, USA, and colleagues observed eight olive baboons aged 4 to 14. More than 50 experiments were performed to test the quantitative ability of the species. this primate.

Baboons. (Photo: Sam DCruz Shutterstock)

The researchers wanted to see if baboons could guess which cup contained more peanuts in the two. They put the number of peanuts from 1 to 8 seeds in two different cups, the number of peanuts is always different in each cup.

Baboons will be "rewarded" for all the peanuts they choose. When the amount of grain difference between the two cups is quite large, baboons guess about 75% of the time. When the number of grain differences is less (for example, 6 peanuts in a cup and 7 grains in another cup), the correct guessing rate drops to 55%.

"Our research shows that primates have quantitative ability. In fact, the ability to distinguish the exact number of primates is as good as a child , " Redorbit quoted Cantlon as saying. .

"People gain this skill by learning numbers and developing a language system about numbers. Now we know, even without the language and counting, the complex mathematical skills still exist. exists , " added Cantlon.