Evidence Against Observational Learning in Storage and Recovery of Seeds by Black-Capped Chickadees

Baker, Myron Charles; Stone, Eric R.; Baker, Ann Eileen Miller; Shelden, Robert J.; Skillicorn, Patricia; Mantych, Mark D.

doi:10.1093/auk/105.3.492

Cited by 49 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This result agrees with those of similar previous studies on a food-hoarding parid, the black-capped chickadee (Baker et al 1988; Hitchcock and Sherry 1995). This makes it likely that the special observational memorisation ability of great tits is not a general ability of all parid species.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

“…The American black-capped chickadee Poecile atricapillus is a close American relative to the marsh tit with a similar storing behaviour (Brodin 2005). In an experiment that was very similar to the ones in which Brodin and Urhan (2014, 2015) showed this ability in great tits, chickadees did not show any evidence of this (Baker et al 1988). Neither did Hitchcock and Sherry (1995) detect such an effect in black-capped chickadees in a slightly different experiment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Thus, it is possible that the observational memorisation ability that we have demonstrated in great tits (Brodin and Urhan 2014) may be a general ability in parids. The fact that Baker et al (1988) did not detect it in black-capped chickadees could in that case depend on differences in experimental design or procedure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Evidence against observational spatial memory for cache locations of conspecifics in marsh tits Poecile palustris

Urhan

Emilsson

Brodin

2017

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Many species in the family Paridae, such as marsh tits Poecile palustris, are large-scale scatter hoarders of food that make cryptic caches and disperse these in large year-round territories. The perhaps most well-known species in the family, the great tit Parus major, does not store food itself but is skilled in stealing caches from the other species. We have previously demonstrated that great tits are able to memorise positions of caches they have observed marsh tits make and later return and steal the food. As great tits are explorative in nature and unusually good learners, it is possible that such “memorisation of caches from a distance” is a unique ability of theirs. The other possibility is that this ability is general in the parid family. Here, we tested marsh tits in the same experimental set-up as where we previously have tested great tits. We allowed caged marsh tits to observe a caching conspecific in a specially designed indoor arena. After a retention interval of 1 or 24 h, we allowed the observer to enter the arena and search for the caches. The marsh tits showed no evidence of such observational memorization ability, and we believe that such ability is more useful for a non-hoarding species. Why should a marsh tit that memorises hundreds of their own caches in the field bother with the difficult task of memorising other individuals’ caches? We argue that the close-up memorisation procedure that marsh tits use at their own caches may be a different type of observational learning than memorisation of caches made by others. For example, the latter must be done from a distance and hence may require the ability to adopt an allocentric perspective, i.e. the ability to visualise the cache from the hoarder’s perspective.Significance statementMembers of the Paridae family are known to possess foraging techniques that are cognitively advanced. Previously, we have demonstrated that a non-hoarding parid species, the great tit P. major, is able to memorise positions of caches that they have observed marsh tits P. palustris make. However, it is unknown whether this cognitively advanced foraging strategy is unique to great tits or if it occurs also in other parids. Here, we demonstrated that “pilfering by observational memorization strategy” is not a general strategy in parids. We believe that such ability is important for a non-hoarding species such as the great tit and, most likely, birds owning many caches do not need this foraging strategy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

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Evidence against observational spatial memory for cache locations of conspecifics in marsh tits Poecile palustris

Urhan

Emilsson

Brodin

2017

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…Black-capped chickadees ( Parus atricapillus ) display excellent spatial memory in recovering their own caches (Baker et al, 1988; Hitchcock and Sherry, 1990). Despite this, black-capped chickadees showed no recovery benefit from observing another individual caching compared to recovering caches made in its absence (Baker et al, 1988; Hitchcock and Sherry, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory for Multiple Cache Locations and Prey Quantities in a Food-Hoarding Songbird

2012

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Most animals can discriminate between pairs of numbers that are each less than four without training. However, North Island robins (Petroica longipes), a food-hoarding songbird endemic to New Zealand, can discriminate between quantities of items as high as eight without training. Here we investigate whether robins are capable of other complex quantity discrimination tasks. We test whether their ability to discriminate between small quantities declines with (1) the number of cache sites containing prey rewards and (2) the length of time separating cache creation and retrieval (retention interval). Results showed that subjects generally performed above-chance expectations. They were equally able to discriminate between different combinations of prey quantities that were hidden from view in 2, 3, and 4 cache sites from between 1, 10, and 60 s. Overall results indicate that North Island robins can process complex quantity information involving more than two discrete quantities of items for up to 1 min long retention intervals without training.

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“…While parids undoubtedly use spatial memory for cache retrieval (Shettleworth 1995), laboratory studies have failed to show that memory use in parids is as long-term as in corvids (Hitchcock and Sherry 1990; Brodin and Kunz 1997). In addition, even though parids seem to be sensitive to cache pilferage (cache pilferage may affect choice of caching sites, Hampton and Sherry 1994), several studies have also failed to demonstrate that they pilfer caches using observational memory (memory of cache locations acquired by watching other individuals cache) (Baker et al 1988; 1991; Hitchcock & Sherry 1995; Baker & Anderson 1995). Thus, there may be no need to conceal caching from conspecifics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chickadees are selfish group members when it comes to food caching

2010

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Many food-caching animals live in groups and cache pilferage may be one of the negative consequences of social living. Several hypotheses have been proposed to suggest that individuals may benefit from caching even when cache pilferage is high if all individuals can cache and pilfer equally. Stable groups may hypothetically support the evolution of such "reciprocal pilfering" because all group members may potentially have numerous opportunities to pilfer each other's caches. If that were the case, then we would expect animals cache openly in front of their group members, but to avoid caching in direct view of unknown conspecifics. We tested this hypothesis by allowing mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) to cache food in three experimental conditions: (1) with a familiar observer from the same group and with an unfamiliar conspecific observer present; (2) with a familiar observer from the same group only, and (3) without any observers. When presented with both a familiar and an unfamiliar observer, the caching chickadees treated both observers equally by choosing caching sites that were both farther away and out of sight of both observers. When only the familiar observer was present, chickadees shifted their choice of caching sites to the surfaces both away from and out of sight of the observer. When no observers were present, all available caching sites were used equally. Our results thus do not support the reciprocal cache sharing hypothesis and suggest that chickadees try to minimize cache pilferage from both familiar group members and unfamiliar conspecifics.

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Evidence Against Observational Learning in Storage and Recovery of Seeds by Black-Capped Chickadees

Cited by 49 publications

References 21 publications

Evidence against observational spatial memory for cache locations of conspecifics in marsh tits Poecile palustris

Evidence against observational spatial memory for cache locations of conspecifics in marsh tits Poecile palustris

Memory for Multiple Cache Locations and Prey Quantities in a Food-Hoarding Songbird

Chickadees are selfish group members when it comes to food caching

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