Bees 'count' numbers in increasing size from left to right, study reveals

According to a new study, bees organise numbers in increasing size from left to right, validating the hotly contested hypothesis that all species, including humans, naturally follow this path for counting.

According to Western research, youngsters begin organising increasing numbers from left to right in what has been dubbed the "mental number line" even before they can count.

People from cultures that employ an Arabic script that reads from right to left, on the other hand, have been observed to move in the reverse direction.

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“The subject is still being debated between those who think the mental number line has an innate character and those who say it is cultural,” said Martin Giurfa, a professor at the Research Centre on Animal Cognition at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France.

Recent research has shown that several vertebrate species, including primates, and newborn humans organise numbers from left to right.

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Giurfa led a study that was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that used an experiment on bees to see if the same is true for insects.

“It has already been shown that bees are able to count – at least up to five,” Giurfa told Agence France-Presse.

The two hemispheres of their brains also interpret information differently.According to Giurfa, this characteristic, which they appear to share with humans, maybe the basis for the "mental number line's" existence.

(with inputs from agencies)