CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton goes on a hunt to uncover the numerical abilities of the animal kingdom. Can wild lions compare different numbers? Can you teach bees to recognise and choose specific amounts? And if the answer is yes, how do they do it? Marnie tries to find out just how deep the numerical rabbit hole goes… and comes across a parrot named Alex who is perhaps the most impressive example of animal counting of them all.

Contributors:

Brian Butterworth - emeritus professor of cognitive neuropsychology at University College London

Mai Morimoto - researcher at Queen Mary University of London

Lars Chittka - professor of sensory and behavioural ecology at Queen Mary University of London

Irene Pepperberg - comparative psychologist, and research associate at Harvard University

Sounds:

Lions from Karen McComb, emeritus professor at University of Sussex

Túngara frogs from Michael Ryan, professor of zoology at University of Texa at Austin

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton

Producer: Florian Bohr