Conservation of liquid and solid quantity by the chimpanzee

Science. 1978 Dec 1;202(4371):991-4. doi: 10.1126/science.202.4371.991.

Abstract

Sarah, an adult "language"-trained chimpanzee, made accurate same-different judgments on quantities of liquid and solid matter and conserved both types of quantity despite a transformation in an irrelevant property (shape). Control tests showed that she judged on the basis of inference rather than perceptual evaluation of the quantities. She failed to make accurate same-different judgments on the basis of number, and she was not tested for conservation of this type of quantity.