Abstract
CAPABILITIES for long-term memory and recall of information have evolved in non-human animals primarily for special requirements such as for learning species-typical vocalizations and caching food1–6. Long-term memory of individual social partners has, however, not been demonstrated previously for non-human animals. The ability to recognize individuals has important consequences for the evolution of intricate social interactions7–11 and provides a basis for more sophisticated forms of cognition in animal societies12,13. Recognition of social partners has been documented for territorial songbirds, which discriminate between songs of different neighbours14–16 as well as between the songs of strangers and neighbours17. Here I show that male hooded warblers ( Wilsonia citrina, Parulinae) not only recognize their neighbours individually by song during the breeding season, but also retain the memory of neighbours' songs after an 8-month period during which they cease singing and migrate to Central America before they return to former breeding territories.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Pearce, J. in An Introduction to Animal Cognition 73–108 (Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., East Sussex, 1987).
Marler, P. & Peters, S. Science 213, 780–782 (1981).
Marler, P. & Peters, S. Anim. Behav. 30, 479–482 (1982).
Nottebohm, F., Kasparian, S. & Pandazia, C. Brain Res. 213, 99–109 (1981).
Canady, R., Kroodsma, D. & Nottebohm, F. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 6232–6234 (1984).
Krebs, J., Sherry, D., Healy, S., Perry, V. & Vaccarino, A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 1388–1392 (1989).
Axelrod, R. & Hamilton, N. Science 211, 1390–1396 (1981).
Axelrod, R. The Evolution of Cooperation (Basic Books, 1984).
Wiley, R. H. & Rabenold, K. Evolution 38, 609–621 (1984).
Seyfarth, R. & Cheney, D. Nature 308, 141–143 (1984).
Wilkinson, G. Nature 308, 181–184 (1984).
Cheney, D., Seyfarth, R. & Smuts, B. Science 234, 1361–1366 (1986).
Dasser, V. in Social Relationships and Cognitive Development (eds Hinde, R., Perret-Clermont, A. & Stevenson-Hinde, J.) 9–22 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1985).
Brooks, R. & Falls, J. Can. J. Zool. 53, 1749–1761 (1975).
Wiley, R. H. & Wiley, M. Behavior 62, 10–34 (1978).
McGregor, P. & Avery M. Behavl. ecol. Sociobiol. 18, 311–316 (1978).
Falls, J. in Acoustic Communication in Birds 2 (eds Kroodsma, D. & Miller, E.) 237–278 (Academic, New York, 1982).
Lemon, R., Monnette, S. & Roff, D. Ethology 74, 265–284 (1987).
Knapton, R. Living Bird 17, 137–158 (1978).
Nolan, V. Ornithological Monographs No. 26 (Allen, Lawrence, Kansas, 1978).
Yasukawa, K., Bick, E., Wagman, D. & Marler, P. Behavl. ecol. Sociobiol. 10, 211–215 (1982).
Rappole, J. & Warner, D. in Migrant birds in the Neotropics (eds Keast, A. & Morton, E.) 353–393 (Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, 1980).
Richards, D. Auk 96, 688–693 (1979).
Beletsky, L. & Orians, G. Proc. natn. Acad. Science U.S.A. 86, 7933–7936 (1989).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Godard, R. Long-term memory of individual neighbours in a migratory songbird. Nature 350, 228–229 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350228a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350228a0
This article is cited by
-
Grey wolves (Canis lupus) discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar human voices
Animal Cognition (2023)
-
Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Coevolution of acoustical communication between obligate avian brood parasites and their hosts
Avian Research (2020)
-
“Ficedula”: an open-source MATLAB toolbox for cutting, segmenting and computer-aided clustering of bird song
Journal of Ornithology (2018)
-
The high-output singing displays of a lekking bat encode information on body size and individual identity
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2018)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.