Researchers in Barcelona conducted experiments with four zoo giraffes that indicate the animals might be capable of basic math. Photo courtesy of the University of Barcelona
July 1 (UPI) -- Researchers in Barcelona conducted experiments with four zoo giraffes that indicate the animals might be capable of basic quantity tracking, or simple math.
The University of Barcelona, University of Leipzig and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology researchers, who published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports, presented four giraffes from the Barcelona Zoo with two containers containing different amounts of carrot pieces.
The researchers then covered the containers, and the animals watched as the humans added or subtracted more carrot pieces to them.
The giraffes then selected the containers with more carrot pieces 68% of the time, which the researchers said exceeds the number that could be attributed to random chance.
