Scientists Find Crows Have a Concept of the Number Zero
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Researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany have new evidence suggesting crows can contemplate the number zero. This ability means the birds join an “elite” group of creatures that can process the concept of numerical nothingness. The group includes bees, monkeys, and humans. The latter of whom still consider zero’s first conception as one of the greatest achievements in mathematics.
My Modern Met wrote about the discovery, which the researchers outlined in a paper published in
The Journal of Neuroscience. The researchers’ goal was to explore whether “precursors of zero-like concepts” are found in vertebrates with a cerebrum that have starkly different brains from human ones. And apparently, carrion crows fit the bill perfectly.