title: Quantitative abilities in a reptile (Podarcis sicula).
abstract: The ability to identify the largest amount of prey available is fundamental for optimizing foraging behaviour in several species. To date, this cognitive skill has been observed in all vertebrate groups except reptiles. In this study we investigated the spontaneous ability of ruin lizards to select the larger amount of food items. In Experiment 1, lizards proved able to select the larger food item when presented with two alternatives differing in size (0.25, 0.50, 0.67 and 0.75 ratio). In Experiment 2 lizards presented with two groups of food items (1 versus 4, 2 versus 4, 2 versus 3 and 3 versus 4 items) were unable to select the larger group in any contrast. The lack of discrimination in the presence of multiple items represents an exception in numerical cognition studies, raising the question as to whether reptiles' quantitative abilities are different from those of other vertebrate groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy mariaelena.milettopetrazzini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maria Elena
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5204-5863
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Miletto Petrazzini
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fraccaroli
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gariboldi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agrillo
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bisazza
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bertolucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Augusto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foà
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000502:physiology
keywords: continuous quantities; lizard; numerical abilities; reptile cognition