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Birds 'read numbers from left to right'
It is not just many humans who read numbers from left to right, a new study shows, birds do too.
The animals also appear to learn better after a good night’s sleep, scientists have found.
Researchers tested the reactions of a group of adult Clark’s Nutcrackers and newborn chicks.
Shown a set of objects, the birds were all trained to pick out the fourth one in a line, in return for food.
Initially the objects were placed in a vertical line in front of birds but when they had successfully learned which to pick, the researchers changed the test to lay the objects out in a horizontal line.
The birds continued to correctly count to four, reading from left to right, the findings, published in the journal Biology Letters show.
The team behind the research, from Padua University in Italy, said that the results “indicate for the first time a disposition to map a number line from left to right exists in non-human … species.”
Sleep also helps birds to consolidate information they have learned during the day, in the same ways as it does with humans, a separate study shows.
Tests on starlings showed that they performed better in memory tests after a good night’s sleep.
Researchers trained the birds to respond to certain calls, one of which signified that they would receive a treat and the another which heralded a punishment, in which the lights in their cages were briefly switched off.
The findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggest an extremely similar patter to what happens in humans, said the researchers, from the University of Chicago.
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