Hans: A genius horse who knows how to read and count 4
Clever Hans is a horse from Germany, owned by Wilhelm II.
And according to the observations of many people, it seems that this is a horse that can count, speak the days of the week and even understand German.
At first, many people believed that this was just a lie for Wilhelm II to attract attention.
William von Osten gave the first performance of this extraordinary horse in 1891, and the two attracted a lot of public attention.
Wilhelm von Osten and his horse.
Behind every good student, there is a great teacher.
Because horses cannot speak like humans, they communicate by kicking their feet on the ground.
Hans not only knows how to count but can also determine time.
After this performance, all of Germany knew about this special horse, and everyone accordingly considered it a kind of national treasure.
This horse also became so famous in 1892-1893 that many people would travel all over the world just to witness Hans’s special abilities firsthand.
However, there were also many people who wondered if this was a hoax or if Hans was actually a smart horse.
This committee conducted 4 checking steps including: separating Clever Hans and the owner from the audience to eliminate the help of a third person;
In 1904, a group of researchers announced that they had not found any evidence to prove that it was a hoax.
They note that Hans can very rarely answer questions to which his owner does not know the answer.
Through careful tests and observations, they realized that Hans was responding to very subtle, even unconscious, signals given by the coach.
For example, when Hans is asked what two plus three is, Osten or the person asking the question (standing directly in front of the horse) will lean forward slightly after Hans kicks five times and before doing this for the next time.
Every time Hans performs the correct number of kicks, the trainer will make subtle movements (sometimes just a simple change in facial expression or posture) to ask the horse to stop.
Hans had clearly been well-trained and rewarded for correct answers, so he was used to this type of behavior.
