CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 115Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skillsPrimate Behavior and EcologyChild and Animal Learning Development

Putting the elephant back in the herd: elephant relative quantity judgments match those of other species

Perdue, Bonnie M., Talbot, Catherine F., Stone, Adam M., Beran, Michael J.·2012·Animal Cognition
DOI 10.1007/s10071-012-0521-y
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The ability to discriminate between quantities has been observed in many species. Typically, when an animal is given a choice between two sets of food, accurate performance (i.e., choosing the larger amount) decreases as the ratio between two quantities increases. A recent study reported that elephants did not exhibit ratio effects, suggesting that elephants may process quantitative information in a qualitatively different way from all other nonhuman species that have been tested (Irie-Sugimoto et al. in Anim Cogn 12:193-199, 2009). However, the results of this study were confounded by several methodological issues. We tested two African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to more thoroughly investigate relative quantity judgment in this species. In contrast to the previous study, we found evidence of ratio effects for visible and nonvisible sequentially presented sets of food. Thus, elephants appear to represent and compare quantities in much the same way as other species, including humans when they are prevented from counting. Performance supports an accumulator model in which quantities are represented as analog magnitudes. Furthermore, we found no effect of absolute magnitude on performance, providing support against an object-file model explanation of quantity judgment.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s10071-012-0521-y

Cites

38 of 38 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Both Asian and African savanna elephants can discriminate between different quantities of food using both or either visual and/or auditory cues.

    “both Asian and African savanna elephants can discriminate between different quantities of food using both or either visual and/or auditory cues (when baits were dropped into a container; Irie-Sugimoto et al., 2009; Perdue et al., 2012; Snyder et al., 2021).”

    From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as Perdue et al., 2012

  • Other studies on elephant quantity discrimination have found different results, which were consistent with the accumulator model.

    “However, other studies on elephant quantity discrimination have found different results, which were consistent with the accumulator model (Perdue et al., 2012; Plotnik et al., 2019; Snyder et al., 2021).”

    From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as Perdue et al., 2012

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Perdue, B. M., Talbot, C. F., Stone, A. M., & Beran, M. J.
Affiliations
  • Georgia State University (US)
  • Zoo Atlanta (US)
Corresponding author
Perdue, Bonnie M.
ORCID
Venue
Animal Cognition
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2012-06-13
Volume
15
Issue
5
Pages
955-961
ISSN
  • 1435-9448 (ISSN-L)
  • 1435-9456
DOI
10.1007/s10071-012-0521-y
OpenAlex
W1976535853
Cited by
115
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 4
FWCI
13.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Animal Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01HD060563)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Keywords
ratio effect, number sense, elephants, Loxodonta africana, accumulator model, absolute magnitude, numerical cognition, comparative cognition
MeSH terms
Animals, Choice Behavior, Discrimination, Psychological, Elephants, Female, Judgment, Photic Stimulation

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review