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Zebra mbunas and South American lines can make small additions and subtractions. Researchers at a German university came to this conclusion using a color-based device.
Some fish can do calculations if their memory, right or wrong, is constantly tarnished by popular belief. Two species, the zebra punas and the South American rays can add and subtract small numbers, a new study shows. The world And published in the journal Scientific reports March 31.
To achieve these results, researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany set up the first device based on color, which is associated with the addition of blue and the addition of yellow.
Each fish was presented with an array of shapes in blue or yellow inside its aquarium. He then passed an airlock, where he had to choose between two similar possibilities of addition or subtraction.
For example, if the fish first encounters two blue figures and the next room, it is offered to go to one or three figures, it is expected that the second option will be chosen, the blue chart, we recall, additionally. Food was provided for proper selection.
Success rate up to 94%
Once the principle is integrated, the fish face a test where they have to choose between three different shapes. And the results are convincing: the rays passed the test in 94% of cases for addition and in 89% of cases for subtraction. Zebra ponies are also generally successful with 78% plus and 69% minus the correct answers.
For researchers, these results are not a coincidence. “It’s what I expected.” The world Vera Schluessel, the co-ordinator of the experiment, claims to have validated the results with new experiments.
However, unlike other organisms, fish do not need this computational ability. “It does not look like a bird, for example, it is curious to know how many eggs it has in its nest,” the researcher underlines.
In 2019, a team of Franco-Australian researchers demonstrated that bees can solve calculations.
