A vague train of thought, inspired by Joshua Holden's comment on the last post, has led me to the knowledge that ticks do not have fingers. Thanks a lot, Josh.Instead, their jointed legs end in a segment called the tarsus. Most insects have multiple claws on the end of the tarsus (or pretarsus in some cases) called ungues (singular unguis)-- the typical ant could probably count to twelve, if it could count-- but the tick (not an insect) apparently lacks these.
In compensation, it does have something called the Haller's Organ, which is a sort of combination nose/thermometer/CO2 detector that helps it find suitable... targets, shall we say.
Still blecch.
So they count in binary?
ReplyDeleteEither that or octal.
DeleteActually, hang on. With only one appendage, assuming we're running with the whole "count on your extremities" idea, you'd have to count not in binary but in unary, which I gather is an actual thing but probably wouldn't be terribly useful.
No, wait. The most direct analogy is to humans who count only on the extremities of their two manipulating limbs, so... um. Ticks don't manipulate with their legs, but the Haller's organ is only on the first pair, so you could call that pair differentiated, and with one claw on each leg, that means...
Yeah, ok, binary, I guess. Huh. Good call.