scholarly journals The Use of Landmarks by Clark's Nutcrackers: First Tests of a New Model

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan C. Kamil ◽  
Aleida J. Goodyear ◽  
Ken Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Path Integration ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Nucifraga Columbiana ◽  
Scatter Hoarding ◽  
New Model ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Clark’S Nutcrackers ◽  
Multiple Bearings ◽  
Clark's Nutcrackers

Animals use many different mechanisms to navigate in space. The characteristics of the mechanism employed are usually well-suited to the demands of each particular navigational problem. For example, desert ants navigating in a relatively featureless environment use path integration, birds homing or migrating over long distances use compasses of various sorts, salmon returning to their natal stream home on olfactory cues. The study of navigation requires the study of many different taxa confronting different problems. One interesting case involves scatter-hoarding species that use memory to relocate their hidden food. Such animals face the problem of remembering many locations simultaneously. Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) are an excellent example, and this paper considers their possible use of multiple bearings from landmarks.

scholarly journals Way-finding and landmarks: the multiple-bearings hypothesis

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.C. Kamil ◽  
K. Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Nucifraga Columbiana ◽  
Goal Location ◽  
Clark’S Nutcrackers ◽  
Way Finding ◽  
Multiple Bearings ◽  
Clark's Nutcrackers

Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) are capable of very precise searching using the metric relationships between a goal and multiple landmarks to relocate the goal location. They can judge the direction more accurately than the distance to a landmark when the landmark is distant from the goal. On the basis of these findings, we propose that nutcrackers use a set of bearings, each a measure of the direction from the goal to a different landmark, when searching for that goal. The results of a simulation demonstrate that increasing the number of landmarks used results in increasingly precise searching. This multiple-bearings hypothesis makes a series of detailed predictions about how the distribution of searches will vary as a function of the geometry of the locations of the relevant landmarks and the goal. It also suggests an explanation for inconsistencies in the literature on the effects of clock-shifts on searching and on homing.

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