Meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, can distinguish more over-marks from fewer over-marks

Is it possible that voles have a sense of number? To address this question, we determined whether voles discriminate between two different scent-marking individuals and identify the individual whose scent marks was on top more often than the other individual. We tested whether voles show a preferenc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal cognition 2005-07, Vol.8 (3), p.182-189
Main Authors: Ferkin, Michael H, Pierce, Andrew A, Sealand, Robert O, Delbarco-Trillo, Javier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal cognition
Animals
Arvicolinae - psychology
Discrimination Learning
Female
Intermediate Filament Proteins
Male
Mathematics
Microtus
Microtus pennsylvanicus
Rodents
Sex Factors
Smell
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Is it possible that voles have a sense of number? To address this question, we determined whether voles discriminate between two different scent-marking individuals and identify the individual whose scent marks was on top more often than the other individual. We tested whether voles show a preference for the individual whose scent marks was on top most often. If so, the simplest explanation was that voles can make a relative size judgement-such as distinguishing an area containing more of one individual's over-marks as compared to less of another individual's over-marks. We found that voles respond preferentially to the donor that provided a greater number of over-marks as compared to the donor that provided a lesser number of over-marks. Thus, we concluded that voles might display the capacity for relative numerousness. Interestingly, female voles were better able than male voles to distinguish between small differences in the relative number of over-marks by the two scent donors.
ISSN:1435-9448
1435-9456
DOI:10.1007/s10071-004-0244-9