TY - JOUR
T1 - The ontogeny of a mammalian cognitive map in the real world
AU - Harten, Lee
AU - Katz, Amitay
AU - Goldshtein, Aya
AU - Handel, Michal
AU - Yovel, Yossi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 The Authors.
PY - 2020/7/10
Y1 - 2020/7/10
N2 - How animals navigate over large-scale environments remains a riddle. Specifically, it is debated whether animals have cognitive maps. The hallmark of map-based navigation is the ability to perform shortcuts, i.e., to move in direct but novel routes. When tracking an animal in the wild, it is extremely difficult to determine whether a movement is truly novel because the animal's past movement is unknown. We overcame this difficulty by continuously tracking wild fruit bat pups from their very first flight outdoors and over the first months of their lives. Bats performed truly original shortcuts, supporting the hypothesis that they can perform large-scale map-based navigation. We documented how young pups developed their visual-based map, exemplifying the importance of exploration and demonstrating interindividual differences.
AB - How animals navigate over large-scale environments remains a riddle. Specifically, it is debated whether animals have cognitive maps. The hallmark of map-based navigation is the ability to perform shortcuts, i.e., to move in direct but novel routes. When tracking an animal in the wild, it is extremely difficult to determine whether a movement is truly novel because the animal's past movement is unknown. We overcame this difficulty by continuously tracking wild fruit bat pups from their very first flight outdoors and over the first months of their lives. Bats performed truly original shortcuts, supporting the hypothesis that they can perform large-scale map-based navigation. We documented how young pups developed their visual-based map, exemplifying the importance of exploration and demonstrating interindividual differences.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087831250&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.aay3354
DO - 10.1126/science.aay3354
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C2 - 32647001
AN - SCOPUS:85087831250
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 369
SP - 194
EP - 197
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6500
ER -