Certain animals have an intuitive awareness of quantities, They know without analysis the difference between a number of objects and a smaller number. In his book The Natural History of Selbourne (1786), the naturalist Gilbert White tells how he surreptitiously removed one egg a day from a plover’s nest, and how the mother laid another egg each day to make up for the missing one. He noted that other species of birds ignore the absence of a single egg but abandon their nests if more than one egg has been removed. It has also been noted by naturalists that a certain type of wasp always provides five — never four, never six — caterpillars for each of their eggs so that their young have something to eat when the eggs hatch. Research has also shown that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd and even numbers of food pieces.
These and similar accounts have led some people to infer that creatures other than human can actually count. They
A. Careful training is required to teach animals to perform tricks involving numbers.
B. Animals cannot "count" more than one kind of object.
C. Of all animals, dogs and horses can count best.
D. Although some animals may be aware of quantities, they cannot actually count.
Certain animals have an intuitive awareness of quantities, They know without analysis the difference between a number of objects and a smaller number. In his book The Natural History of Selbourne (1786), the naturalist Gilbert White tells how he surreptitiously removed one egg a day from a plover’s nest, and how the mother laid another egg each day to make up for the missing one. He noted that other species of birds ignore the absence of a single egg but abandon their nests if more than one egg has been removed. It has also been noted by naturalists that a certain type of wasp always provides five — never four, never six — caterpillars for each of their eggs so that their young have something to eat when the eggs hatch. Research has also shown that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd and even numbers of food pieces.
These and similar accounts have led some people to infer that creatures other than human can actually count. They
A. show how attitudes have changed since 1786.
B. contradict the idea that animals can count.
C. provide evidence that some birds are aware of quantities.
D. indicate that more research is needed in this field.
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