Doing these 3 treatments across wild-type, large brained and small brained guppy lines was already a very large effort…but it turns out guppies are little fish with very little brains. We had to conduct these behavioral experiments on a large number of animals in order to have enough tissue for RNAseq and replicates.
We also learned that the differences in brain size between the two groups of fish are very small. For example, in the small brain group, the size difference between males and females was only 0.2 mm, which is less than 1/100th of an inch.
Table of Contents
Can guppies count?
It was found that their mathematical prowess does not extend to exact numbers and counting, as they could not accurately tell different numbers of the same object. The researchers, who have published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports, believe that this is due to the fact that they do not have the ability to distinguish between different types of objects, such as animals, plants, and humans.
Do guppies bond?
Humans and Guppy fish form close relationships in the face of predatory animals. The study, published in PLOS ONE, found that the fish were more likely to form strong bonds with each other if they believed they were being watched by a predator.
They were also more willing to share food with other members of their social group, even if it meant they had to eat less than others. The fish also showed a greater willingness to cooperate with one another when the predator was far away, suggesting that they may be able to sense the presence of a potential threat.
Why are guppies so popular?
Guppies are one of the most popular fish in the aquarium hobby because of their bright colors, lively personality, and their ability to live in a variety of water conditions. They can be kept in freshwater, saltwater, or brackish water. Peculiarities of Poecilotheria include the fact that they do not have a dorsal fin, which makes them difficult to keep in captivity.
Also, they are not native to the United States, but have been introduced to many other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Martinique, Montserrat, Dominica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Are guppies dumb?
They have a rudimentary ability to count. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden were able to use their numerical abilities to test whether brain size affects intelligence in animals. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that the brains of gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans are about the same size as those of humans.
But when it comes to the number of neurons in their brains, the two species differ dramatically. Gorillas have more than twice as many neurons per cubic millimeter than humans, while chimpanzees have about three times more neurons than we do. The difference is even more pronounced when the researchers looked at the brain’s connections between neurons.
Chimpanzees and humans have similar numbers of synapses, which are the connections that allow neurons to communicate with each other. In contrast, chimps have only about half as much synapse density as humans do, according to PNAS.
How long is a guppies memory?
It is popularly believed that fish have a memory span of only 30 seconds. Canadian scientists have shown that fish can remember context and associations up to 12 days later. It is believed that fish have a short memory span.
In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of British Columbia and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have shown for the first time that a fish’s memory is not limited to just a few seconds, but that it can be as long as 24 hours.
The study, which was conducted in a laboratory setting, also showed that the fish were able to remember the context of their environment, such as the type of fish they were interacting with, as well as their own identity and social status.
In addition, the researchers found that they could use this information to predict the future behavior of other fish, even if they had never interacted with them before.
Can goldfish count?
Scientists have discovered that fish possess some mathematical skills. Researchers in Italy have found evidence that they are able to solve complex mathematical problems. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was conducted by scientists from the University of Bologna and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), in collaboration with researchers from Italy’s National Research Council (CNR).
The scientists used a computer model to simulate the brain of a fish. They found that the fish’s brain is capable of solving complex problems, such as finding the shortest path between two points on a map. The model also showed that fish can solve problems that are similar to those of humans, but in a different way.
For example, they could solve the problem of finding a route from one point to another without using a compass, a tool that humans use to find their way around the world. However, the scientists did not find any evidence of the ability of fish to think in terms of numbers, as humans do, or to use symbols, which are used by humans to communicate with each other.
Can guppies recognize their owners?
According to a new study, it probably can. The fish can tell a familiar human face from dozens of new faces with surprising accuracy. This is a very big deal. This is the first time that fish have shown this ability. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
The fish were trained to associate a face with a food reward. They were then released into the wild to see if they could recognize the faces of other fish. After a few weeks, they were able to do so. In fact, the researchers found that fish that had been trained on human faces were more likely to recognize a new fish’s face than those that hadn’t been exposed to the face of a human at all.
That’s a huge step forward for the ability of fish to learn and recognize faces, which has been known for a while, but until now, has only been demonstrated in a handful of species.
Do guppies have feelings?
According to this view, the responses fish give to adverse circumstances might be more than just uncontrollable reflexes, but are still very simple and have little to do with conscious thought. In other words, they might not even be conscious at all. This view has been supported by a number of studies in which fish have been trained to respond to aversive stimuli.
For example, in one of these studies, a group of fish were placed in a tank filled with water that had been spiked with a chemical that caused the fish to swim in circles. They were then released into the water and allowed to return to their home tank.
The researchers found that fish that were exposed to the spiked water were more likely to be aggressive toward the other fish in the tank than were fish who were not exposed. Similarly, another study showed that when a fish was given a choice between a food reward and a punishment, it chose the reward more often than it did the punishment.
This suggests that the response to an unpleasant stimulus is not just a reflexive response, but rather that it is a conscious response that is influenced by the animal’s experience of the situation. (For more on this topic, see the article “The Consciousness of Animals” by David Chalmers in The New York Review of Books, Vol.
