[Animals] A study with giraffes casts doubt on the abilities of animals with small brains

[#Wittels-]

The scientists analyzed these animals and found behaviors that were previously unknown.

The scientists analyzed these animals and found behaviors that were previously unknown.

 

Giraffes have shown great ability and even do basic statistical calculations to choose their favorite food.

Giraffes have shown great ability and even do basic statistical calculations to choose their favorite food, a highly developed cognitive function that until now had only been proven in animals with large brains, such as primates.

This was verified by a team of scientists who carried out a study with four giraffes at the Barcelona Zoo, where they verified that these animals may have much more outstanding statistical abilities than previously thought.

The research was led by scientists from the University of Leipzig, the German Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology of the University of Barcelona and the conclusions of their work are published today in Scientific Reports.

These to do simple statistical "calculations" have so far not been observed in animals with proportionally smaller brains, such as giraffes.

The researchers showed the giraffes the possibility of between vegetable sticks held in a clenched fist that were extracted from transparent boxes that contained mostly, but not only, pieces of carrot (their favorite) and zucchini sticks (less preferred). The animals saw which box the food was taken from, but not which vegetable they selected and recommended to them by the researchers.

The abilities to do simple statistical "calculations" have not been observed so far in animals with the proportionally smallest brains, such as giraffes.
And in most cases they verified that the animals favored the food that had been removed from the box where there were mostly carrots and therefore the chances of obtaining that food were greater.

Thus, the scientists suggested that a large brain might not be a prerequisite for such cognitive abilities and that the ability to do statistical interference may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought.

Researcher Álvaro López Caicoya, from the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Barcelona, highlights the relevance of the study for understanding evolution, since more and more things and abilities are known that are not exclusively human.

In statements to EFE, López Caicoya explained that until thirty years ago it was thought that this type of statistical reasoning was only typical of adult humans, "but today we know that it is also present in babies a few months old, in primates, in parrots and now even in giraffes".

"It is important to realize that most of the things that we think make us special are present in many more animals," stressed the researcher, noting the relevance of this ability for giraffes, since the savannah environment in which they live are characterized by having widely spaced trees and therefore can identify from a distance which trees have better proportions of leaves and flowers.

"It is important to realize that most of the things that we think make us special are present in many more animals," said researcher López Caicoya.
That way they conserve energy by saving necessary trips to less desirable food sources and focus their efforts on reaching the trees that provided them with the most beneficial nutrients, she explained.

In his opinion, it is a fundamental ability in the animal and he does not believe that the fact of living in captivity determines the results, since they are not animals -he specified- that have not been disturbances for that nor do they have much interaction with humans more beyond the studio

Caicoya showed that wild giraffes are very elusive towards humans and would never come close to carry out an experiment like this, so the research would have been impossible with animals that were not in captivity, and she was convinced that "the data from giraffes in captivity are the best we'll ever have to assess these kinds of capabilities in these animals." EFE

 

Link: https://www.clarin.com/internacional/estudio-jirafas-pone-duda-habilidades-animales-cerebros-chicos_0_fJiQw7dwaL.html