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The seed-storing corvid Clark's nutcracker learns geometric relationships among landmarks

Nature volume 390, pages 276–279 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Many animals regularly return to particular locations such as hives, nests, wintering grounds or cache sites. This ability clearly implies that animals possess information that allows them to find a route from their current location to their goal. However, the nature of this information is, in many cases, unknown. One particularly important issue is whether this information encodes at least some of the geometric relationships among real-world objects, which would meet a strict definition of a cognitive map1,2. Are animals sensitive to such geometric relationships? Although there is clear evidence that animals can learn vectors that represent a goal location in terms of absolute distance and direction to a landmark, there is little evidence of any ability to extract abstract geometric rules3,4,5,6,7,8. Here we report data demonstrating that the corvid Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) can learn to find the point halfway between two landmarks that vary in the distance that separates them. This learning is based on a general principle, as the birds correctly find the halfway point when the landmarks are presented with new distances between them. This demonstrates the ability to find a point defined not by the relationship between a goal and a landmark but by the relationship between landmarks. Further experiments demonstrate that there were two distinct processes involved in locating the halfway point, the use of directional bearings to find the (hypothetical) line connecting the landmarks and finding the correct place along that line.

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Figure 1: Mean distance (±se.) between each of the first 5 digs and the goal location on test trials throughout training and the transfer test. During training andthe first and last blocks of transfer inter-landmark distances were 20–120 cm in 20-cm increments.
Figure 2: Frequency distribution of the location of digs in the north–south axis during transfer testing.
Figure 3: Mean distance (±se.) between each of the first five digs and the goal location as a function of inter-landmark distance and axis of analysis.
Figure 4: a, Map showing the location of probing during the 15° rotation testing.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Cheng, S. Shettleworth, S. Yoerg, J. Templeton, A. Bond, K. Gould-Beierle, B. Gibson and C. Cink for comments on previous drafts of this paper, and D. W. Stephens for assistance with data analysis. The research was supported by The National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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  1. School of Biological Sciences and Department of Psychology, Nebraska Behavioral Biology Group, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 68588-0118, Nebraska, USA

    Alan C. Kamil & Juli E. Jones

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  1. Alan C. Kamil
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  2. Juli E. Jones
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Correspondence to Alan C. Kamil.

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Kamil, A., Jones, J. The seed-storing corvid Clark's nutcracker learns geometric relationships among landmarks. Nature 390, 276–279 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/36840

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