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Rolland E, Trull S. Spatial mapping memory: methods used to determine the existence and type of cognitive maps in arboreal mammals. Mamm Rev 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/mam.12272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eléonore Rolland
- 12 rue Pierre Viorrain Bagnères de Bigorre65200France
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Deutscher Pl. 6 Leipzig04103Germany
| | - Sam Trull
- The Sloth Institute at Tulemar Gardens Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas60601Costa Rica
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de Guinea M, Estrada A, Nekaris KAI, Van Belle S. Cognitive maps in the wild: revealing the use of metric information in black howler monkey route navigation. J Exp Biol 2021; 224:271801. [PMID: 34384101 PMCID: PMC8380465 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.242430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
When navigating, wild animals rely on internal representations of the external world – called ‘cognitive maps’ – to take movement decisions. Generally, flexible navigation is hypothesized to be supported by sophisticated spatial skills (i.e. Euclidean cognitive maps); however, constrained movements along habitual routes are the most commonly reported navigation strategy. Even though incorporating metric information (i.e. distances and angles between locations) in route-based cognitive maps would likely enhance an animal's navigation efficiency, there has been no evidence of this strategy reported for non-human animals to date. Here, we examined the properties of the cognitive map used by a wild population of primates by testing a series of cognitive hypotheses against spatially explicit movement simulations. We collected 3104 h of ranging and behavioural data on five groups of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) at Palenque National Park, Mexico, from September 2016 through August 2017. We simulated correlated random walks mimicking the ranging behaviour of the study subjects and tested for differences between observed and simulated movement patterns. Our results indicated that black howler monkeys engaged in constrained movement patterns characterized by a high path recursion tendency, which limited their capacity to travel in straight lines and approach feeding trees from multiple directions. In addition, we found that the structure of observed route networks was more complex and efficient than simulated route networks, suggesting that black howler monkeys incorporate metric information into their cognitive map. Our findings not only expand the use of metric information during route navigation to non-human animals, but also highlight the importance of considering efficient route-based navigation as a cognitively demanding mechanism. Highlighted Article: Black howler monkeys rely on route-based cognitive maps, which constrain their movement decisions, but likely incorporate metric information to navigate more efficiently along frequently used routes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel de Guinea
- School of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.,Movement Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - Alejandro Estrada
- Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, CP 04510 Mexico City, Mexico
| | | | - Sarie Van Belle
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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Janmaat KRL, de Guinea M, Collet J, Byrne RW, Robira B, van Loon E, Jang H, Biro D, Ramos-Fernández G, Ross C, Presotto A, Allritz M, Alavi S, Van Belle S. Using natural travel paths to infer and compare primate cognition in the wild. iScience 2021; 24:102343. [PMID: 33997670 PMCID: PMC8101046 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Within comparative psychology, the evolution of animal cognition is typically studied either by comparing indirect measures of cognitive abilities (e.g., relative brain size) across many species or by conducting batteries of decision-making experiments among (typically) a few captive species. Here, we propose a third, complementary approach: inferring and comparing cognitive abilities through observational field records of natural information gradients and the associated variation in decision-making outcomes, using the ranging behavior of wild animals. To demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, we present the results of a global survey assessing the availability of long-term ranging data sets from wild primates and the willingness of primatologists to share such data. We explore three ways in which such ranging data, with or without the associated behavioral and ecological data often collected by primatologists, might be used to infer and compare spatial cognition. Finally, we suggest how ecological complexity may be best incorporated into comparative analyses. Comparing animal ranging decisions in natural habitats has untapped potential How decisions vary with natural information gradients reveals wild animal cognition Ranging data on at least 164 populations of 105 wild primate species are available We present three thought analyses to compare cognition and explain its evolution
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Affiliation(s)
- Karline R L Janmaat
- Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.,Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.,ARTIS Amsterdam Royal zoo, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Miguel de Guinea
- Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
| | - Julien Collet
- Oxford Navigation Group, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
| | - Richard W Byrne
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrew, UK.,Scottish Primate Research Group, Scotland, UK
| | - Benjamin Robira
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.,Eco-anthropologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Emiel van Loon
- Theoretical and Computational Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Dora Biro
- Oxford Navigation Group, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford, UK.,Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, USA
| | - Gabriel Ramos-Fernández
- Department of Mathematical Modelling of Social Systems, Institute for Research on Applied Mathematics and Systems, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.,Center for Complexity Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Cody Ross
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Andrea Presotto
- Department of Geography and Geosciences, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MA, USA
| | - Matthias Allritz
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | - Shauhin Alavi
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Sarie Van Belle
- Department of Anthropology, University of Austin at Texas, Austin, TX, USA
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de Guinea M, Estrada A, Nekaris KAI, Van Belle S. Arboreal route navigation in a Neotropical mammal: energetic implications associated with tree monitoring and landscape attributes. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2019; 7:39. [PMID: 31890215 PMCID: PMC6918719 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-019-0187-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although navigating along a network of routes might constrain animal movement flexibility, it may be an energetically efficient strategy. Routinely using the same route allows for visually monitoring of food resources, which might reduce the cognitive load and as such facilitate the process of movement decision-making. Similarly, locating routes in areas that avoid costly landscape attributes will enhance their overall energy balance. In this study we determined the benefits of route navigation in an energy minimiser arboreal primate, the black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra). METHODS We monitored five neighbouring groups of black howler monkeys at Palenque National Park, Mexico from September 2016 through August 2017. We recorded the location of the focal group every 20 m and mapped all travel paths to establish a route network (N = 1528 travel bouts). We constructed linear mixed models to assess the influence of food resource distribution (N = 931 trees) and landscape attributes (slope, elevation and presence of canopy gaps) on the location of routes within a route network. RESULTS The number of food trees that fell within the visual detection distance from the route network was higher (mean: 156.1 ± SD 44.9) than randomly simulated locations (mean: 121.9 ± SD 46.4). Similarly, the number of food trees found within the monkey's visual range per meter travelled increased, on overage, 0.35 ± SE 0.04 trees/m with increasing use of the route. In addition, route segments used at least twice were more likely to occur with increasing density of food resources and decreasing presence of canopy gaps. Route segments used at least four times were more likely to occur in elevated areas within the home ranges but only under conditions of reduced visual access to food resources. CONCLUSIONS Route navigation emerged as an efficient movement strategy in a group-living arboreal primate. Highly used route segments potentially increased visual access to food resources while avoiding energetically costly landscape features securing foraging success in a tropical rainforest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel de Guinea
- Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gibbs Building, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP UK
| | - Alejandro Estrada
- Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - K. Anne-Isola Nekaris
- Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gibbs Building, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP UK
| | - Sarie Van Belle
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX USA
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Trapanese C, Meunier H, Masi S. What, where and when: spatial foraging decisions in primates. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2018; 94:483-502. [PMID: 30211971 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Revised: 08/17/2018] [Accepted: 08/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
When exploiting the environment, animals have to discriminate, track, and integrate salient spatial cues to navigate and identify goal sites. Actually, they have to know what can be found (e.g. what fruit), where (e.g. on which tree) and when (in what season or moment of the year). This is very relevant for primate species as they often live in seasonal and relatively unpredictable environments such as tropical forests. Here, we review and compare different approaches used to investigate primate spatial foraging strategies: from direct observations of wild primates to predictions from statistical simulations, including experimental approaches on both captive and wild primates, and experiments in captivity using virtual reality technology. Within this framework, most of these studies converge to show that many primate species can (i) remember the location of most of food resources well, and (ii) often seem to have a goal-oriented path towards spatially permanent resources. Overall, primates likely use mental maps to plan different foraging strategies to enhance their fitness. The majority of studies suggest that they may organise spatial information on food resources into topological maps: they use landmarks to navigate and encode local spatial information with regard to direction and distance. Even though these studies were able to show that primates can remember food quality (what) and its location (where), still very little is known on how they incorporate the temporal knowledge of available food (when). Future studies should attempt to increase our understanding of the potential of primates to learn temporal patterns and how both socio-ecological differences among species and their cognitive abilities influence such behavioural strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Trapanese
- École Doctorale Frontières du Vivant (FdV) - Programme Bettencourt, Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, Tour Maine Montparnasse, Paris, 75015, France.,Centre de Primatologie de l'Université de Strasbourg, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France.,Faculté de psychologie Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France.,Département Hommes et Environnements Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme, UMR 7206-CNRS/MNHN, Paris, 75116, France
| | - Hélène Meunier
- Centre de Primatologie de l'Université de Strasbourg, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France.,Faculté de psychologie Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France
| | - Shelly Masi
- Département Hommes et Environnements Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme, UMR 7206-CNRS/MNHN, Paris, 75116, France
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Mantled howler monkey spatial foraging decisions reflect spatial and temporal knowledge of resource distributions. Anim Cogn 2015; 19:387-403. [PMID: 26597923 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-015-0941-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2015] [Revised: 11/09/2015] [Accepted: 11/11/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
An animal's ability to find and relocate food items is directly related to its survival and reproductive success. This study evaluates how mantled howler monkeys make spatial foraging decisions in the wild. Specifically, discrete choice models and agent-based simulations are used to test whether mantled howler monkeys on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, integrate spatial information in order to maximize new leaf flush and fruit gain while minimizing distance traveled. Several heuristic models of decision making are also tested as possible alternative strategies (movement to core home range areas instead of individual trees, travel along a sensory gradient, movement along arboreal pathway networks without a predetermined destination, straight-line travel in a randomly chosen direction, and random walks). Results indicate that although leaves are the single most abundant item in the mantled howler monkey diet, long-distance travel bouts target the areas with the highest concentrations of mature fruits. Observed travel patterns yielded larger estimated quantities of fruit in shorter distances traveled than all alternative foraging strategies. Thus, this study both provides novel information regarding how primates select travel paths and suggests that a highly folivorous primate integrates knowledge of spatiotemporal resource distributions in highly efficient foraging strategies.
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Sleeping-tree fidelity of the spider monkey shapes community-level seed-rain patterns in continuous and fragmented rain forests. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1017/s026646741500022x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Abstract:Repeated use of sleeping trees (STs) by frugivores promotes the deposition and aggregation of copious amounts of seed, thus having key implications for seed dispersal and forest regeneration. Seed-rain patterns produced by this behaviour likely depend on the frequency of use of these sites, yet this hypothesis has been poorly tested. We evaluated community-level seed-rain patterns produced by the spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) over 13 mo in latrines located beneath 60 STs in the Lacandona rain forest, Mexico. Because this primate is increasingly ‘forced’ to inhabit fragmented landscapes, we tested whether sleeping-tree fidelity (STF) differed among sites and between continuous and fragmented forests. We also tested whether seed-rain patterns were associated with STF within each site and forest type. STF was highly variable among STs (average = 7 mo, range = 1–12 mo), but did not differ among study sites or forest types. STF was positively associated with seed abundance, species diversity and species turnover. Nevertheless, STF tended to be negatively related to seed community evenness. These results are likely due to the most frequently used STs being in areas with greater food density. Our results demonstrate that site fidelity shapes community-level seed-rain patterns and thus has key ecological implications.
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Suarez SA. Ecological factors predictive of wild spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth) foraging decisions in Yasuní, Ecuador. Am J Primatol 2014; 76:1185-95. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2013] [Revised: 04/21/2014] [Accepted: 04/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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