Influence of Landmarks on Spatial Memory in Short-nosed Fruit Bat, <I>Cynopterus sphinx</I>

Abstract

Abstract:In order to study the relationship between landmarks and spatial memory in short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx (Megachiroptera, Pteropodidae), we simulated a foraging environment in the laboratory. Different landmarks were placed to gauge the spatial memory of C. sphinx. We changed the number of landmarks every day with 0 landmarks again on the fifth day (from 0, 2, 4, 8 to 0). Individuals from the control group were exposed to the identical artificial foraging environment, but without landmarks. The results indicated that there was significant correlation between the time of the first foraging and the experimental days in both groups (Pearson Correlation: experimental group: r=-0.593, P<0.01; control group: r=-0.581, P<0.01). There was no significant correlation between the success rates of foraging and the experimental days in experimental groups (Pearson Correlation: r=0.177, P>0.05), but there was significant correlation between the success rates of foraging and the experimental days in the control groups (Pearson Correlation: r=0.445, P<0.05). There was no significant difference for the first foraging time between experimental and control groups (GLM: F 0.05,1 =4.703, P>0.05); also, there was no significant difference in success rates of foraging between these two groups (GLM: F 0.05,1 =0.849, P>0.05). The results of our experiment suggest that spatial memory in C. sphinx was formed gradually and that the placed landmarks appeared to have no discernable effects on the memory of the foraging space.