Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Functional Evaluation of Olfactory Pathways in Living Xenopus Tadpoles
07:33

Functional Evaluation of Olfactory Pathways in Living Xenopus Tadpoles

Published on: December 11, 2018

7.0K

Quantity discrimination in a spontaneous task in a poison frog.

Sunil Khatiwada1, Sabrina S Burmeister2

  • 1Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599, USA.

Animal Cognition
|July 29, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Poison frogs can distinguish small numbers of prey, suggesting an object tracking system. However, they struggle with larger quantities and do not show evidence of the approximate number system seen in other species.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Trade-offs between proximity and physical contact during group integration in pigs (<i>Sus scrofa domesticus</i>).

Current zoology·2026
Same author

Leadership amongst pigs when faced with a novel situation.

Behavioural processes·2024
Same author

The rhesus macaque as a success story of the Anthropocene.

eLife·2022
Same author

Differential encoding of signals and preferences by noradrenaline in the anuran brain.

The Journal of experimental biology·2020
Same author

Comparative ecological and behavioral study of Macaca assamensis and M. mulatta in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, Nepal.

Primates; journal of primatology·2020
Same author

Reconsidering sex differences during place learning in túngara frogs.

Current zoology·2019

Area of Science:

  • Animal behavior
  • Cognitive ecology
  • Sensory systems

Background:

  • Animals utilize quantitative information for survival behaviors.
  • Two proposed systems for quantity judgment: precise object tracking for small sets and an imprecise approximate number system for larger sets.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate quantity discrimination abilities in the poison frog (Dendrobates auratus).
  • To determine if poison frogs utilize an object tracking system or an approximate number system.

Main Methods:

  • A spontaneous prey discrimination task was used with live flies.
  • Quantities ranged from 1-4 (low numerosity) and 4-16 (high numerosity).
  • Ratio contrasts were varied (0.33, 0.5, 0.67, 0.75).
Keywords:
AmphibianAnuranNumerical cognitionQuantity discrimination

More Related Videos

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice
08:35

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

Published on: January 22, 2016

12.4K
The Attentional Set Shifting Task: A Measure of Cognitive Flexibility in Mice
09:15

The Attentional Set Shifting Task: A Measure of Cognitive Flexibility in Mice

Published on: February 4, 2015

27.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Functional Evaluation of Olfactory Pathways in Living Xenopus Tadpoles
07:33

Functional Evaluation of Olfactory Pathways in Living Xenopus Tadpoles

Published on: December 11, 2018

7.0K
An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice
08:35

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

Published on: January 22, 2016

12.4K
The Attentional Set Shifting Task: A Measure of Cognitive Flexibility in Mice
09:15

The Attentional Set Shifting Task: A Measure of Cognitive Flexibility in Mice

Published on: February 4, 2015

27.8K

Main Results:

  • Poison frogs successfully discriminated between 1 and 2, and 1 and 3 flies.
  • Performance was near chance for 2 vs. 3 and below chance for 3 vs. 4.
  • No significant discrimination was observed for higher numerosities (4-16).
  • No evidence of Weber's law governing performance or a speed-accuracy tradeoff was found.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the presence of an object tracking system in poison frogs for small quantities.
  • Results may also indicate a singular vs. plural discrimination ability.
  • The study did not find evidence for an approximate number system in poison frogs under these conditions.