Here's the challenge - I'll post one fact a week. But can you sort the facts from the fibs:
- The closest living relative to the T-Rex is a chicken
- Some worms can jump
- An armadillo's armour is bulletproof
- A bat can eat up to 1,000 insects per...
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No, really. Pigeons are brilliant at simple maths.
Many animals, from honeybees to elephants, can tell the difference between quantities of items, sounds, or smells. But only primates (all species, from lemurs to chimpanzees) were known to be able to reason numerically, until the pigeon rocked up to the lab. Scientists gave the pigeons three images containing one, two, or three objects. All three images appeared at once on a touch screen and the pigeons pecked the screen to make a response. If they correctly accomplished the task, pecking the images in ascending order, they received a wheat snack.
They then went even further and presented the pigeons with pairs of images containing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 objects. The pigeons again had to pair the items in ascending order. For example, if a pigeon saw 8 and 5, it had to peck the objects representing 5 first. Amazingly, the pigeons matched the mathematical skills of the monkeys.
So, if you spot a monkey in a huff on the next nature show you watch, you'll know why.
