New research reveals that fish are capable of solving simple mathematical problems, just like humans!
Researchers from Germany have found that both cichlids and stingrays are able to recognize and calculate small tasks without having to count – just as one looks at one’s small money on the table, reports “Study Finds”.
“We have trained animals to perform simple additions and subtractions,” said Dr. Vera Schlussel of the Institute of Zoology at the University of Bonn in a press release. “In doing so, they had to increase or decrease the initial value by one.”
Although some call fish “fools of the animal kingdom” because of their memory duration – which can last only three seconds – the new study reveals their ability to collect and subtract from one to five.
Their numerical skills are at the level of other species of invertebrates and vertebrates, and experts are beginning to suspect that they are as intelligent as birds and mammals.
In the experiments, the team trained the animals to recognize blue and yellow as symbols for addition or subtraction with a factor of one. Eight of the fish were freshwater stingrays and the rest were cichlids. During the experiments, blue meant “add one” and yellow “subtracted one”.
The authors of the study showed each of the fish cards with figures depicting one or the other color in their aquarium, and then presented them with two doors. They contained signs with different numbers of figures – one of which was the correct mathematical answer. For example, if a fish sees three blue figures, it will add one to three and swim through the door, which depicts four figures – receiving a food reward for the correct answer.
Six cichlid fish and three stingrays have learned to associate blue with addition and yellow with subtraction. On average, the cichlids needed 28 lessons to solve the math problems and the stingrays 68 lessons. Overall, they performed well, although collection was easier to digest. Overall, the success of cichlids is different, and they respond correctly in 296 of 381 tests (78%). At the same time, the stingrays responded to 169 out of 180 (94%). In the subtraction test, cichlids responded correctly to 264 out of 381 (69%), while stingrays responded correctly to 161 out of 180 (89%).
The team notes that their findings are surprising, as mathematical skills have no obvious benefit for either species.
“None of the species nests, nor is there information available about preferences for certain social groups,” the researchers said.
However, it is possible that fish that are good at math have important environmental benefits that scientists have not yet discovered.
“Arithmetic skills could be one of many cognitive by-products useful in improving individual recognition (eg by using phenotypic characteristics) or helping to detect changing environmental or social conditions,” the team explains. “Because both species live in complex habitats (rocky lake and coral reef environment), a degree of behavioral flexibility is essential for survival.”
