Surprisingly clever long-necks: In order to get their favorite food, giraffes make smart decisions based on statistical probabilities. This is proven by experiments in which the animals could choose between two options with different chances of success. The scientists say that other animal species with relatively small brains may also be capable of such sophisticated intelligence achievements.
What’s the better choice? As is well known, we humans are often faced with this question and it is particularly tricky when none of the possible decisions leads to success. In such cases, we need to use probabilities as a guide: certain information can serve as a guide for making choices with a better chance of success. One aspect of this can be statistical information – if, for example, there is comparatively more volume potential in an option. However, it has already been shown that at least some “smart heads” in the animal world are also capable of this cognitive performance: primates and parrots have been shown to have the ability to make meaningful decisions based on statistical probabilities.
Can giraffes make smart decisions too?
So far, these have been species that have large and therefore particularly powerful brains in comparison to their body dimensions. The research team led by Alvaro Caicoya from the University of Barcelona, on the other hand, has now investigated whether animals with rather modest brains can also make clever decisions. The choice fell on zoological prominence: the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). The subjects of the experimental study were four specimens living in Barcelona Zoo.
The researchers used the food preferences of the giraffes for their experiments: they particularly like carrots – they prefer this vegetable to other foods such as zucchini. From a kind of balcony, the scientists presented their tall test subjects with two transparent containers each, which were filled with proportionately different amounts of carrot and zucchini pieces: visually recognizable, one of the containers contained relatively more of the delicacies than the other. In front of the eyes of the giraffe in question, the experimenter then slid his hand right and left into the mixtures in the two containers and randomly took out a piece of food. Concealed in his two fists, he then offered them to the animal to choose from.
Statistical conclusions emerge
It turned out that the giraffes eyed exactly what was going on and then in almost all cases stretched out their long tongues towards the hand that had fished in the container with proportionally more carrots. It didn’t matter whether the fist actually contained a piece of carrot or zucchini. Apparently, the animals did not only orientate themselves on olfactory clues. However, Caicoya and his colleagues found that the giraffes’ decisions are based on their ability to recognize the statistically higher probability of the treats.
The results are consistent with earlier findings in primates and parrots. Apparently, the relatively small brains of giraffes are also capable of this remarkable intelligence feat, say the scientists. According to them, this form of mind could well be advantageous in the lives of these herbivores. Possibly they can turn to particularly favorable food sources in their natural habitat by wise consideration. “From an evolutionary perspective, statistical abilities could provide animals with crucial advantages to draw conclusions in a situation of ambiguity,” write Caicoya and his colleagues.
According to them, it is therefore now advisable to explore the distribution of the ability more precisely: “It is very likely that statistical abilities are more widespread in the animal kingdom. So it would be interesting to test more species and use a comparative approach. It could become apparent to what extent the statistical abilities match the respective socio-ecological challenges that these species have to master, ”say the scientists.