# Can animals count?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-count/359967>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 8, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-count/359967 "2006-06-08T22:28:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-count/359967/21 "2006-06-10T01:32:25Z")

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According to Jeremiah Johnson’s mentor in the movie, “Jeremiah Johnson,” elk can’t count.

Perhaps this can be applied to the other deer species as well. He wasn’t at all clear on that but he did have a keen eye for how deep to bury a fire if you were going to sleep on it.

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-count/359967/22 "2006-06-10T01:42:04Z")

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If you think you dog can’t count, let her see you take out three treats and only give her two.

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