Olfaction alters spatial memory strategy of scatter‐hoarding animals

Abstract

Although it has been suggested that olfaction is closely interconnected with hippocampal systems, whether olfaction regulates spatial memory strategy remains never known. Furthermore, no study has examined how olfaction mediates spatial memory established on the external objects, for example, caches made by scatter‐hoarding animals. Here, we experimentally induced nondestructive and reversible olfaction loss of a scatter‐hoarding animal Leopoldamys edwardsi, to test whether and how olfaction regulates spatial memory to mediate cache recovery and pilferage. Our results showed that the normal L. edwardsi preferred to pilfer caches of others rather than to recover their own using accurate spatial memory (35.7% vs. 18.6%). Anosmic L. edwardsi preferred to recover the caches they made prior to olfaction loss rather than to pilfer from others relied on spatial memory (54.2% vs. 36.0%). However, L. edwardsi with anosmia showed no preference either to the caches they established after olfaction loss or caches made by others (25.8% vs. 29.1%). These collectively indicate that olfaction loss has a potential to affect new memory formation but not previously established spatial memory on caches. Our study first showed that olfaction modified spatial memory strategy in cache recovery and pilferage behaviors of scatter‐hoarding animals. We suggest that future studies pay more attention to the evolution of olfaction and its relationship with spatial memory strategy.

Gut microbiota is associated with spatial memory and seed-hoarding behavior of South China field mice (Apodemus draco)

“…Bolder animals may be less affected by stress and thus able to plan more intricate routes in which spatial memory plays a crucial role. Based on previous studies ( Yi et al, 2016 ; Yi S et al, 2021 ), we argued that spatial memory is more essential for the scatter-hoarding behavior of rodents.…”

“…Instead, scatter-hoarded food is protected by hiding them in multiple locations with a low storage density and these food caches do not need much defense, but need better spatial memory for late relocation. Many rodent species have been reported with scatter-hoarding behavior, such as Siberian chipmunk ( Tamias sibiricus ), Pallas’s Squirrel ( Callosciurus erythraeus ), Edward’s long-tailed rats ( Leopoldamys edwardsi ), and South China field mice ( Apodemus draco ) ( Pan et al, 2013 ; Yi S et al, 2021 ; An et al, 2022 ; Xiao et al, 2022 ).…”

Plant hormones mediate the interaction between oak acorn germination and rodent hoarding behaviour

“…Seed-hoarding experiments in enclosures Five enclosures (10 9 10 9 2.5 m) were built near the edge of the forest plot at the Dujiangyan Research Station. There were seed stations and nests for rodents, shallow pits for storing food and environments that prevented enemies from feeding (for details, see Yi et al, 2021).…”

Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates

“…Sensory systems play crucial roles in food investigation, both in finding food and evaluating food quality [1,2]. A large body of work has explored the role of colour vision in finding and assessing foods in terrestrial vertebrate taxa [3][4][5] but the role of non-visual senses during foraging has received considerably less attention, with the notable exception of chiropterans [6], and a growing literature on primates and scatter-hoarding rodents [7][8][9]. Despite this, a growing body of literature suggests non-visual senses are critical to food investigation [10][11][12].…”