You don't need language to do basic mathematics, it turns out. According to new research out of Italy, even baby chickens are capable of mathematical cognition. In fact, they're born with the ability to count.

Scientists have known the humans instinctively imagine numbers as increasing from left to right. But researchers have had difficulty understanding why. New evidence suggests the inclination may lie deep in our evolutionary history, as the baby birds possess the same latent understanding of numerical order.

Not only do baby chicks seem to understand the relative value of numbers, but they visualize those values ascending from left to right, smaller to bigger.

Scientists at the University of Padova, in Italy, showed this by training baby chickens to associate a panel with five dots on it with a treat of food. Once this number-reward relationship was established, the researchers observed the chickens' behavior when presented with a different-numbered panel.

When presented with two panels with fewer dots, the birds tended to go to the left panel to search for food. When presented with larger-numbered panels, the birds tended to go to the right.

"They associate small numbers with the left space and larger number with the right space, and this resembles the humans' behavior in responding to numbers," study lead author Rosa Rugani told Live Science.

"Our results suggest a rethinking of the relationship between numerical abilities and verbal language, providing further evidence that language and culture are not necessary for the development of a mathematical cognition."

The new study was published this week in the journal Science.