Abstract
Locating food and refuge is essential for an animal's survival. However, little is known how mammals navigate under natural conditions and cope with given environmental constraints. In a series of six experiments, I investigated landmark-based navigation in free-ranging Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus). Squirrels were trained individually to find a baited platform within an array of nine identical platforms and artificial landmarks set up on their territories. After animals learned the location of the food platform in the array, the position of the latter with respect to local artificial, local natural, and global landmarks was manipulated, and the animal's ability to find the food platform was tested. When only positions of local artificial landmarks were changed, squirrels located food with high accuracy. When the location of the array relative to global landmarks was altered, food-finding accuracy decreased but remained significant. In the absence of known global landmarks, the presence of a familiar route and natural local landmarks resulted in significant but not highly accurate performance. Squirrels likely relied on multiple types of cues when orienting towards a food platform. Local landmarks were used only as a secondary mechanism of navigation, and were not attended to when a familiar route and known global landmarks were present. This study provided insights into landmark use by a wild mammal in a natural situation, and it demonstrated that an array of platforms can be employed to investigate landmark-based navigation under such conditions.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Dorothy L. Cheney for her support, helpful discussions of the experiments, and valuable comments on the manuscript. I am thankful to Arthur E. Dunham for his support of the project. I would like to thank Sara J. Shettleworth, Brett M. Gibson, Marcia L. Spetch, Alan C. Kamil, anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the earlier versions of the manuscript, Ken Cheng for helpful discussion of the experiments, and Peter S. Petraitis for suggestions on statistical analysis. Many thanks are due to F. Stephen Dobson for teaching me how to work with the animals, allowing to perform experiments at his study site, logistical support on the field, and comments on the manuscript. I extend my thanks to Morgan King for helping with the platform construction. This research adheres to the legal requirements of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development organization, and the Life and Environmental Sciences Animal Care Committee of the University of Calgary, Canada. This research was partially supported by a National Science Foundation grant to F.S. Dobson (#DEB-0089473)
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Vlasak, A.N. Global and local spatial landmarks: their role during foraging by Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus). Anim Cogn 9, 71–80 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-005-0006-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-005-0006-3