Ants Fail to Add Numbers of Same Elements Seen Consecutively

Abstract

The workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti have been shown to be able to distinguish different numbers of elements and to be able to add them if seen side by side, at the same time. They have thus a concrete concept of numbers and of adding. It remained to know if they have an abstract mathematical concept of numbers and of their addition. For tempting answering this question, we presented, to M. sabuleti workers, two numbers of elements (circles) not placed side by side but making an angle, the ants having thus to move for seeing the one then the other of the numbers of elements. After 3, 6, 9 and 12 of such training days, the ants were tested in front of the two numbers of elements as well as of their correct sum and their sum plus one element. The ants responded essentially to the two numbers of elements they saw during training, and far less to their sum and sum plus one element. The ants have thus a basic, concrete concept of adding numbers of elements they see. Young human children (3 to 6 years old) have such a concrete concept of numbers and of adding, but they acquire in several months, through learning, an abstract mathematical concept of these notions and of related ones.

Ants Can Expect the Size of the Next Element in a Geometric Sequence of Increasing or Decreasing Shapes, Only If This Sequence Is Present

“…the last seen during learning multiplied by 2 for the increasing sequence, and divided by 2 for the decreasing one) when the six cues were presented (and thus sighted) in their sequential order and not when they were presented in a random order. This observation is in agreement with the fact that ants can add and subtract elements only when having (concretely) perceived the result of the operation (Cammaerts & Cammaerts, 2019a, b, 2020b. Such a behavior is appropriate for using cues all along a foraging trip: cues distant from one another must not be "added" (i.e.…”

Reply to comment on Howard et al . (2019): ‘Nothing to dance about: unclear evidence for symbolic representations and numerical competence in honeybees'

“…In regard to the suggestion of foil aversion, if bees had learnt foil aversion then they would fail in two of the tests (addition: sample = 3, correct = 2, incorrect = 1; subtraction: sample = 3, correct = 2, incorrect = 4) as both the correct and incorrect options are equidistant from 3; however, bees were successful [3], we are conscious that bees add and subtract only after having been conditioned to do so. This is in agreement with what occurs in ants: they add and subtract only when having perceived the result of the operation during training [7,15,16]. The criticism raised for Howard et al [2], i.e.…”

Ants’ Acquisition of A Symbol for Zero and Its Use to Add

“…However, it is plausible that such ability is detained by other animals not yet investigated as for this topic as it seems to facilitate the accomplishment of tasks. For instance, it may be detained by bees since their numerical cognitive skills appear to be at a somewhat higher level than that of ants: adding and subtracting can be learned to honeybees without they have to see beforehand the result of the operation (Howard et al, 2019a) while ants (M. sabuleti) need to sight two numerosities or their symbols at the same time as well as to smell odors side by side in order to sum them (Cammaerts & Cammaerts, 2019c;2020a), perhaps by mentally merging two images sighted simultaneously into one single image.…”