THE INQUIRER

quant it ies. In their exper iment , fifty-four juvenile cut t lefish were

exper iment suggests that cut t lefish are able to ?count?and understand small numer ical quant it ies which great ly benefits them in the wild. These unique skills set cut t lefish apart from other cephalopods and aquat ic invertebrates; not only can they ident ify comprehend numer ical value and use their skin pat terns to fend off r ivals. Cut t lefish are one of the most incredible species on Earth and scient ists learn more about them every day. and instant ly adapt to their surroundings, but they can

presented with two separate boxes, one of which had a single shr imp while the other had five. Each t ime the cut t lefish was presented with these two opt ions, it chose the larger quant ity of shr imp. The next exper iment tested whether cut t lefish were able to dist inguish the difference between closer numbers like three versus four, and each t ime the cut t lefish would choose the larger group. The final exper iment ruled out that the cut t lefish chose the more densely populated area of shr imp. The scient ists confined the three shr imp in a smaller enclosure and let four shr imp roam in a larger tank and st ill, every t ime, the cut t lefish were able to choose the tank with the most shr imp. The

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