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Can Dogs Count?
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Researchers at the University of
California have completed groundbreaking research into the communication
and intelligence of our canine friends. And the results may surprise you.
Apparently dogs not only use different barks for different meanings, but
they can also count.
Researchers recorded the barks of 10 dogs of six different breeds. They believe
individual dogs have different sounds for different situations. A single
high-pitched bark means, "Where has my owner gone?" while a lower-pitched
harsher "superbark" says, "There's a stranger coming".
The idea that dogs can count is more controversial. A second study suggests
dogs have a basic mathematical ability that enables them to work out when
one pile of objects is bigger than another.
Two researchers - Robert Young of the Pontifical Catholic University, Brazil,
and Rebecca West of the University of Lincoln, UK - tested the idea with
11 mongrels and doggie treats. The snacks were hidden behind a screen,
and then shown to the dogs. After the screen was lowered again, the researchers
changed the number of treats or left them as they were, then let the dogs
have another look.
According to a report in New Scientist magazine, the dogs stared for much
longer at the treats if there were a different number from before. The scientists
think this is evidence that canines have some ability to count.
This could have played an important role when dogs were wild animals, living
in packs, says Dr Young.
"The dog evolved from the wolf only 12,000 years ago. Wolves live in sophisticated
social groups where knowing the number of allies and the number of enemies
you have in a group would be very important in determining whether a behavioural
strategy, for example trying to take over the group, would be successful
or not."
