Study finds giraffes may be capable of rudimentary math
A new study finds giraffes may be capable of rudimentary math. Researchers at the University of Barcelona tested four zoo giraffes with hidden carrot containers and found the animals picked the larger quantity about 68% of the time after watching food added or removed—suggesting they track quantities mentally, not just by sight.
The experiments, conducted with giraffes at the Barcelona Zoo, were led by teams from the University of Barcelona, the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Their findings were published in Scientific Reports.
Key Takeaways
- Four Barcelona Zoo giraffes took part in carrot-based quantity tests behind covered containers.
- The animals chose the container with more food about 68% of the time when pieces were added—above random chance.
- Two giraffes appeared to use mental computations rather than simple cues like which dish a researcher touched.
- Subtraction trials did not show the same success; performance matched random guessing.
- Researchers say giraffes are unlikely to calculate like humans but show a basic grasp of quantities that shapes decisions.
What Did Researchers Ask the Giraffes to Do?
Scientists presented each giraffe with two containers holding different amounts of carrot pieces. After covering the containers, experimenters added or subtracted more carrots while the animals watched.
The giraffes then had to choose which container held more food without being able to see inside. The setup was designed to test whether they could remember initial amounts and update those mental tallies as quantities changed—skills closer to tracking than classroom arithmetic, but still a form of numerical reasoning.
How Did the Giraffes Perform on the Math Tasks?
When carrots were added to the containers, the giraffes selected the option with more food about 68% of the time. The researchers said that rate exceeds what would be expected from random guessing alone.
Follow-up controls checked whether the animals were simply following simpler rules—such as picking whichever container a human had touched. Two of the four giraffes may have relied on that approach, but the other two kept choosing the larger quantity at the same rate even when touch-based strategies could not explain their choices.
For those two animals, the team wrote, the results suggest "the potential use of more complex mental computations."
Can Giraffes Subtract as Well as Add?
The answer, based on these trials, appears to be no—or at least not reliably. When experimenters removed carrot pieces from the containers, the giraffes chose correctly at rates consistent with random chance.
The researchers cautioned that giraffes are probably not performing math the way humans do, but the addition results still point to a basic understanding of numbers that influences decision-making.
Why Does a Giraffe Math Study Matter?
The Barcelona team said the giraffes are likely not performing math the same way as humans, but show a basic understanding of numbers that affect their decision-making. In a zoo setting, that means the animals may mentally track how much food is in a container even when they cannot see it.
For readers who follow Bizarre News & Florida Man, the finding lands in familiar territory: science headlines that sound wild but rest on careful lab work with real animals and measured results.
Even with rudimentary skills—more about tracking carrots than solving equations—a 68% success rate on hidden-quantity choices is a striking result for animals better known for their necks than their number sense.