Ever thought that ducks would be able to become philosophers? Well, you would probably be right; they can’t. But just last week, there was a certain duckling that could do something that none of its brethren could do: this braniac of a duckling could differentiate colors and shapes. What’s more, it could do this feat just moments after hatching.
This advancement shocked scientists who believed that creatures such as ducks didn’t have the capacity to handle complicated ideas such as “different” and “same”. The discovery of this intelligent duckling’s incredible development suggests that humans and other animals with big brains are not the only ones who can think abstractly. In fact, it may be much more common.
Alex Kacelnik and Antone Martinho, who work at the University of Oxford, are the researchers who led the experiment on the ducklings. The two scientists had hypothesized that ducklings might be able to understand patterns in shape and colour along with the array of sensory information they get right after they hatch. By having this ability, ducklings could tell the difference between their mothers and siblings, something rather important for survival. Species such as ducks learn to survive by observing their mother go through the process of filial imprinting. Filial imprinting is essentially where a young animal acquires several of its behavioral characteristics from its parent. Using this idea, researchers wondered if it was possible to make hatchlings follow colors or objects rather than their biological mother, and hence they would be able to recognize those colors and objects in the future.
In order to conduct the experiment, the researchers tested forty-seven new ducklings just a few hours after they were born. Of those, 68% were able to differentiate objects after a few hours of training. Similar results were found when a second group was tested.
As for the particulars, the ducklings were trained to walk behind a pair of objects that were attached to a string. These objects were all red but came in different sizes and shapes. After a thirty minute break, the ducklings were taken to the testing session. At the testing session, the same concept was applied, except this time around, there was an addition of new objects as well. The majority of ducklings ended up following the same shaped objects as they followed in the training period, implying their ability of recognition.
Of course, as previously stated, there won’t be a duck that will be challenging the String Theory or analyzing the various socio-economic problems of the world. What this research does show, however, is that most ducklings have the ability to do basic abstract thinking.
“This remarkable research demonstrates that baby ducklings spontaneously notice abstract relationships in the world around them,” states Elizabeth Brannon at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “Most people are aware that a baby duck will imprint on a random object – that is, they will follow it around as if it were their mother – but this shows that they can actually imprint on a concept as well, and without much training.”
All that said, Kacelnik is dubious whether older ducks would be able to grasp abstract thinking as they are past the process of filial imprinting. “Logic dictates it would be more difficult after filial imprinting is complete,” he says.
“It’s beautiful, careful and elegant work,” claims Claudia Uller at the University of Kingston in London. “The researchers have made use of the imprinting phenomenon to show animals do ‘think’ abstractly about objects in the world. I’m a firm believer – and there’s plenty of evidence to support it – that animals process information at a level we’ve underestimated”.