Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
13:27
Single Sensillum Recordings in the Insects Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae
Published on: February 17, 2010
An Insect's Sense of Number
1College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; Research Center on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS, University of Toulouse, F-31062 Toulouse, Cedex 09, France.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|July 25, 2019
Summary
Bees demonstrate advanced numerical cognition, including understanding zero and performing calculations. These findings suggest numerical abilities are evolutionarily conserved, even in small brains lacking a neocortex.
Area of Science:
- Comparative cognition
- Neuroethology
- Evolutionary biology
Background:
- Recent research indicates complex cognitive abilities in insects.
- Numerosity judgments, previously thought to be exclusive to vertebrates, are being investigated in invertebrates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the extent of numerical cognition in bees.
- To explore the evolutionary conservation of numerosity and its neural implementation.
Main Methods:
- Behavioral experiments assessing bees' responses to quantities.
- Testing for understanding of zero, addition, subtraction, and symbol-numerosity matching.
Main Results:
- Bees exhibited numerosity judgments, including the concept of zero.
- Evidence of bees performing addition and subtraction was observed.
- Bees could match numerical symbols to quantities.
Conclusions:
- Numerosity is an evolutionarily conserved cognitive ability.
- Complex numerical competence can be supported by brains without a neocortex, as seen in bees.
- Insects share fundamental numerical processing mechanisms with vertebrates.
