We Definitely Didn’t See This Coming
When you think of animals that are good at maths, giraffes probably aren’t high on the list.
But according to scientists, we may have been underestimating them this whole time.
A new study has found giraffes can solve simple addition problems in their heads, making them one of only a handful of animals known to understand basic maths.
The Test Was All About Carrots
Researchers at Barcelona Zoo put four giraffes to the test using everyone’s favourite motivator… food.
The giraffes watched as carrot pieces were placed into containers before extra carrots were added. They then had to decide which container held the biggest reward.
No calculators. No fingers. Just giraffe brainpower.
They Kept Getting The Right Answer
The giraffes correctly picked the container with the most carrots around 68 per cent of the time.
That’s far too often to be a lucky guess, with researchers believing the animals were mentally adding the carrot pieces together before making their choice.
But Nobody Likes Subtraction
When the experiment was flipped and carrots were removed rather than added, the giraffes weren’t nearly as successful.
So What Does It All Mean?
Scientists say the discovery puts giraffes in a very exclusive group of animals capable of basic numerical reasoning, alongside some primates and birds.
It’s proof there’s a lot more going on behind those big eyes than we ever gave them credit for.
