NPR

Math Bee: Honeybees Seem To Understand The Notion Of Zero

Research shows that bees possess a mathematical ability once thought to exist only in dolphins, primates, birds and humans who are beyond the preschool years.
Using card with black symbols, researchers trained honeybees to understand that sugar water would always be located under a card with the least number of symbols — including when presented with a card that was totally blank.

Honeybees understand that "nothing" can be "something" that has numerical meaning, showing that they have a primitive grasp of the concept of zero.

That's according to a newly published study in Science, which shows that bees possess a mathematical ability once thought to exist only in dolphins, primates, birds and humans who are beyond the preschool years.

"This is quite, a scientist who studies how animals' process the idea of "nothing" and was not part of the research team.

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