Numeracy in Animals Reading Answers

Sep 30, 2025

Numeracy in Animals Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Numeracy in Animals Reading Answers has a total of 13 IELTS questions in total. In the question set, you have to fill in the blank with the correct answer using no more than three words or numbers for each. In the next question set given, you have to state whether the statement is true, false or not given with the information given in the text.

The IELTS Reading section is an essential part of the test that evaluates a candidate's comprehension and analysis of various passage types. You will work through a number of IELTS reading practice problems in this section that resemble actual test situations. These questions are designed to help you improve your ability to recognise essential concepts, extract particular facts, and make inferences. Practising these IELTS reading problems can help you get comfortable with the structure and increase your confidence for the exam, regardless of whether you are studying for the Academic or General Training module.

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Section 1

NUMERACY IN ANIMALS

A.Prime among basic numerical faculties is the ability to distinguish between a larger and a smaller, says psychologist Elizabeth Brannon. Humans can do this with ease - providing the ratio is big enough - but do other animals share this ability? In one experiment, rhesus monkeys and university students examined two sets of geometrical objects that appeared briefly on a computer monitor. They had to decide which set contained more Objects. Both groups performed successfully, but importantly, Brannon's team found that monkeys, like humans, make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number. The students' performance ends up looking just like a monkey's. It's practically identical, she says.

B.Humans and monkeys are mammals in the animal family known as primates. These are not the only animals whose numerical capacities rely on ratio, however. The same seems to apply to some amphibians. Psychologist Claudia Uller's team tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes. In a series of trials, the researchers noted which tube the salamanders scampered towards, reasoning that if they had a capacity to recognise the number, they would head for the larger number. The salamanders successfully discriminated between tubes containing 8 and 16 flies, respectively, but not between 3 and 4, 4 and 6, or 8 and 12. So it seems that for the salamanders to discriminate between two numbers, the larger must be at least twice as big as the smaller. However, they could differentiate between 2 and 3 flies just as well as between I and 2 flies, suggesting they recognise small numbers in a different way from larger numbers.

C.Further support for this theory comes from studies of mosquito fish, which instinctively join the biggest shoal they can. A team at the University of Padova found that while mosquito fish can tell the difference between a group containing 3 shoal-mates and a group containing

4, they did not show a preference between groups of 4 and 5. The team also found that mosquito fish can discriminate between numbers up to 16, but only if the ratio between the fish in each shoal was greater than 2:1. This indicates that the fish, like salamanders, possess

both the approximate and precise number systems found in more intelligent animals such as infant humans and other primates.

D.While these findings are highly suggestive, some critics argue that the animals might be relying on other factors to complete the tasks, without considering the number itself. 'Any study that's claiming an animal is capable of representing numbers should also be controlling for other factors,' says Brannon. Experiments have confirmed that primates can indeed perform numerical feats without extra clues, but what about the more primitive animals?

E.To consider this possibility, the mosquito fish tests were repeated, this time using varying geometrical shapes in place of fish. The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall surface area and luminance even though they contained a different number of objects. Across hundreds of trials on 14 different fish, the team found they consistently discriminated 2 objects from 3. The team is now testing whether mosquito fish can also distinguish 3 geometric objects from 4.

F.Even more primitive organisms may share this ability. Entomologist Jurgen Tautz sent a group of bees down a corridor, at the end of which lay two chambers - one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty. To test the bees' numeracy, the team marked each chamber with a different number of geometrical shapes - between 2 and 6. The bees quickly learned to match the number of shapes with the correct chamber. Like the salamanders and fish, there was a limit to the bees' mathematical prowess - they could differentiate up to 4 shapes, but failed with 5 or 6 shapes.

G.These studies still do not show whether animals learn to count through training or whether they are born with the skills already intact. If the latter is true, it would suggest there was a strong evolutionary advantage to a mathematical mind. Proof that this may be the case has emerged from an experiment testing the mathematical ability of three - and four-day-old chicks. Like mosquito fish, chicks prefer to be around as many of their siblings as possible, so they will always head towards a larger number of their kin. If chicks spend their first few days surrounded by certain objects, they become attached to these objects as if they were family. Researchers placed each chick in the middle of a platform and showed it two groups of balls of paper. Next, they hid the two piles behind screens, changed the quantities and revealed them to the chick. This forced the chick to perform simple computations to decide which side now contained the biggest number of its "brothers". Without any prior coaching, the chicks scuttled to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance. They were doing some very simple arithmetic, claim the researchers.

H.Why these skills evolved is not hard to imagine, since it would help almost any animal forage for food. Animals on the prowl for sustenance must constantly decide which tree has the most fruit, or which patch of flowers will contain the most nectar. There are also other, less obvious, advantages of numeracy. In one compelling example, researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid - and add any in the nest laid by an intruder — before making any decisions about adding to them. Exactly how ancient these skills are is difficult to determine, however. Only by studying the numerical abilities of more and more creatures using standardised procedures can we hope to understand the basic preconditions for the evolution of number.

Questions 15-21

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Performance of the two groups is almost 15…………

Answer: IDENTICAL

Supporting statement: The students' performance ends up looking just like a monkey's. It's practically identical, she says.

Keywords: practically identical

Keyword Location: Para A, Line 8

Explanation: Psychologist Elizabeth Brannon concludes that the performance of the university students and the rhesus monkeys was practically identical.

chose between two sets of 16............ which are altered

Answer: BALLS OF PAPER

Supporting statement: Researchers placed each chick in the middle of a platform and showed it two groups of balls of paper. Next, they hid the two piles behind screens, changed the quantities and revealed them to the chick.

Keywords: balls of paper, changed the quantities

Keyword Location: Para G, Lines 8-9

Explanation: This refers to the experiment with chicks, where the objects used were balls of paper, and the quantity was changed (altered) behind the screens.

A bird seems to have ability to 17……………

Answer: COUNT/CALCULATE EGGS

Supporting statement: In one compelling example, researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid - and add any in the nest laid by an intruder — before making any decisions about adding to them.

Keywords: female coots, calculate how many eggs

Keyword Location: Para H, Lines 4-5

Explanation: The coots, a type of bird, are described as appearing to calculate how many eggs they have laid.

offered clear tubes containing different quantities of 18..........

Answer: FRUIT FLIES

Supporting statement: Psychologist Claudia Uller's team tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes.

Keywords: salamanders, fruit flies, clear tubes

Keyword Location: Para B, Lines 3-4

Explanation: According to the text, the salamander experiment involved giving them a choice between clear tubes containing different numbers of fruit flies.

19………………

Answer: MOSQUITOFISH

Supporting statement: The mosquito fish tests were repeated, this time using varying geometrical shapes in place of fish.

Keywords: mosquito fish, tests were repeated, geometrical shapes

Keyword Location: Para E, Lines 1-2

Explanation: The table structure suggests this is the subject animal for the row describing the experiment with real shoals and then artificial shapes. The mosquito fish study is mentioned in C, and the repeat test with geometrical shapes is mentioned in E.

shown real shoals and later artificial ones of geometrical shapes; these are used to check the influence of total 20... ...........and brightness

Answer: SURFACE AREA

Supporting statement: The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall surface area and luminance even though they contained a different number of objects.

Keywords: same overall surface area, luminance

Keyword Location: Para E, Line 3

Explanation: According to the passage, to get rid of non-numerical factors, the artificial shapes were adjusted for luminance (brightness) and total surface area.

Had to learn where 21………….was stored

Answer: SUGAR WATER

Supporting statement: Entomologist Jurgen Tautz sent a group of bees down a corridor, at the end of which lay two chambers - one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty.

Keywords: bees, sugar water, learn to match

Keyword Location: Para F, Lines 2-3

Explanation: The experiment with the bees involved them learning to associate the number of shapes with the chamber containing the reward, which was sugar water.

Questions 22-27

Do the following statements agree with the information given in boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is true

FALSE If the statement is false

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

22. Primates are better at identifying the larger of two numbers if one is much bigger than the other.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: Humans can do this with ease - providing the ratio is big enough - but do other animals share this ability? In one experiment, rhesus monkeys and university students... had to decide which set contained more Objects...monkeys, like humans, make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number.

Keywords: ratio is big enough, monkeys, more errors when two sets

Keyword Location: Para A, Lines 3-7

Explanation: The text establishes that both humans and monkeys (primates) make more errors when numbers are close (small ratio), meaning they are better when the ratio is big enough (one is much bigger than the other).

23. Jurgen Tautz trained the insects in his experiment to recognise the shapes of individual numbers.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: To test the bees' numeracy, the team marked each chamber with a different number of geometrical shapes - between 2 and 6. The bees quickly learned to match the number of shapes with the correct chamber.

Keywords: number, geometrical shapes,

Keyword Location: Para F, Lines 4-5

Explanation: Jurgen Tautz's team tested the bees' ability to distinguish between the quantity (number) of shapes, not the symbolic shape of individual numbers (like the numeral '3' or '4').

24. The research involving young chicks took place over two separate days.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: The text specifies the age of the chicks used in the experiment (three- and four-day-old) but does not provide any information about the duration of the experiment, such as whether it spanned two separate days.

25. The experiment with Chicks suggests that some numerical ability exists in newborn animals.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: If the latter is true, it would suggest there was a strong evolutionary advantage to a mathematical mind... Without any prior coaching, the chicks scuttled to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance.

Keywords: prior coaching, scuttled, larger quantity

Keyword Location: Para G, Lines 11-12

Explanation: The fact that the three- and four-day-old chicks performed simple arithmetic without any prior coaching strongly suggests that the skill is innate, or already intact, which is evidence for a numerical ability existing in newborn (or very young) animals.

26. Researchers have experimented by altering quantities of nectar or fruit available to certain wild animals.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: The passage suggests that numerical skills help animals find the most fruit or nectar, but it does not state that researchers have conducted experiments in the wild by manipulating (altering) the quantities of these natural food sources.

27. When assessing the number of eggs in their nest, coots take into account those of other birds.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid - and add any in the nest laid by an intruder — before making any decisions about adding to them.

Keywords: nest laid, intruder

Keyword Location: Para H, Lines 5-6

Explanation: An intruder refers to another bird. The coots add any eggs laid by an intruder into their calculation, meaning they take into account eggs from other birds.

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