# Black bears show counting skills on computers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535 "2012-06-18T16:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/1 "2012-06-18T16:28:41Z")
\*Black bears have demonstrated counting abilities, in a first for the species. Three captive bears took a series of number-based tests on a touch-screen computer, research published in the journal Animal Behaviour showed. They had to choose between two different-sized sets of dots and were rewarded with food for correct answers. “People don’t generally understand them to be as intelligent as they probably are,” said Jennifer Vonk, the researcher who led the study. Although bears have the largest relative brain size of any carnivore, their cognition is not well understood\* BBC [Link.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18447587) What next, painting penguins?😃 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/2 "2012-06-18T16:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > What next, painting penguins? I hope not, their art would be nasty. > **['Sexual depravity' of penguins that Antarctic scientist dared not reveal](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/09/sex-depravity-penguins-scott-antarctic)** > > Landmark polar research about the Adélie penguin's sex life by Captain Scott's expedition, deemed too shocking for the public 100 years ago, is unearthed at the Natural History Museum ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/3 "2012-06-18T17:06:56Z")
_wham!_ One. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/4 "2012-06-18T18:49:43Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > _wham!_ > > One. And then there were none. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/5 "2012-06-18T19:26:13Z")
Bears demonstrate intelligence in the wild. Cubs are learn to hunt and survive from their mothers. Most North American bears are solitary creatures and will avoid confrontation. But they have big claws, jaws, and an attitude, and if you startle them, or piss them off, they’ll pick their teeth with your bones (that’s a figurative description of what happens). Even the more social brown bears have the problem of their hair trigger anger and panic attacks, and terretorial nature, making social cooperation difficult. Considering the wide variety of methods they use to hunt and gather, the large area they prowl in search of food, and the hunger of a huge active animal, I’d assume they’d need a fair amount of intelligence to survive. The jokes above are relevant though. Giving bears an intelligence test has to be difficult, dangerous, and the results hard to interpret. Bear trainers are probably the best judge of bear intelligence. If they respond well to incentives like tasty food, they probably have the desire to learn and could display the kind of intelligence found in dogs and horses, before they sharpen their claws on your carcass. And if you’re a rabbit, whatever the bear asks, just say ‘Yes’. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/6 "2012-06-18T19:39:00Z")
I have heard that the intelligence of black bears is a problem at campgrounds in California (there have not been any brown bears in the wild in CA since the 1920s). They supposedly have to periodically change the devices that make the bear-proof boxes (where you’re supposed to store your food and anything that might smell like food to a bear) bear-proof, as the bears figure out how to get into them after a while. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/7 "2012-06-18T19:42:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And if you’re a rabbit, whatever the bear asks, just say ‘Yes’. All I can think of is some cartoon I saw ages ago where the bear was using the bunny as toilet paper. 😛 Makes those toilet paper commercials with the bears more amusing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/8 "2012-06-18T19:49:34Z")
> [@indian](#): > > Three captive bears took a series of number-based tests on a touch-screen computer, research published in the journal Animal Behaviour showed. This is groundbreaking research – up until now, bears have had to make do with keyboards and mice. The cordless mice work ok, until the batteries die, but it’s hard to replace AAs with claws. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/9 "2012-06-19T02:43:02Z")
It kind of sucks that bears have better computers than I do. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/10 "2012-06-19T03:11:30Z")
I’m disappointed that none of the three photos in the BBC story shows the bear using the computer. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/11 "2012-06-19T04:07:08Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I have heard that the intelligence of black bears is a problem at campgrounds in California (there have not been any brown bears in the wild in CA since the 1920s). They supposedly have to periodically change the devices that make the bear-proof boxes (where you’re supposed to store your food and anything that might smell like food to a bear) bear-proof, as the bears figure out how to get into them after a while. I think you mean grizzly bear, not brown. The historic range map on wiki is sad. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly\_bear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_bear) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/12 "2012-06-19T12:59:25Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > I think you mean grizzly bear, not brown. The historic range map on wiki is sad. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly\_bear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_bear) No, [the range of _Ursus arctos_, the brown bear, no longer includes California.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cypron-Range_Ursus_arctos.svg) Grizzly bears are a subspecies of brown bears, _Ursus arctos horribilis_. California golden bears may have been a separate subspecies, but are now extinct. The bears they told us to worry about in campgrounds in California were American black bears, not brown bears. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/13 "2012-06-19T13:16:45Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > It kind of sucks that bears have better computers than I do. Yeah, well, when you start shitting in the woods, we’ll talk. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/14 "2012-06-19T20:56:46Z")
I think those three were just smarter than the average bear. Was one wearing a porkpie hat and a vest? And carrying a pic-a-nic basket? ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/15 "2012-06-19T23:29:03Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Yeah, well, when you start shitting in the woods, we’ll talk. Er… I own a farm… you don’t think I drive 1/2 mile back to the front side just to use the facilities, do you? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-bears-show-counting-skills-on-computers/625535/16 "2012-06-19T23:41:53Z")
Don’t tell Stephen Colbert about this.