Relative quantity judgment by Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Animal Cognition
Naoko Irie-SugimotoToshikazu Hasegawa

Abstract

This study investigated whether Asian elephants can make relative quantity judgment (RQJ), a dichotomous judgment of unequal quantities ordered in magnitude. In Experiment 1, elephants were simultaneously shown two baskets with differing quantities of bait (up to 6 items). In Experiment 2, elephants were sequentially presented with baits, which could not be seen by elephants in their total quantities. The task of elephants was to choose the larger quantity in both experiments. Results showed that the elephants chose the larger quantity with significantly greater frequency. Interestingly, the elephants did not exhibit disparity or magnitude effects, in which performance declines with a smaller difference between quantities in a two-choice task, or the total quantity increases, respectively. These findings appear to be inconsistent with the previous reports of RQJ in other animals, suggesting that elephants may be using a different mechanism to compare and represent quantities than previously suggested for other species.

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Citations

Mar 11, 2009·PloS One·Christian AgrilloAngelo Bisazza
Dec 3, 2010·PloS One·Angelo BisazzaChristian Agrillo
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Sep 29, 2021·PLoS Biology·Li-Li LiRui-Chang Quan

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