Way-finding and landmarks: the multiple-bearings hypothesis.
Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) are capable of very precise searching using the metric relationships between a goal and multiple landmarks to relocate the goal location. They can judge the direction more accurately than the distance to a landmark when the landmark is distant from the goal. On the basis of these findings, we propose that nutcrackers use a set of bearings, each a measure of the direction from the goal to a different landmark, when searching for that goal. The results of a simulation demonstrate that increasing the number of landmarks used results in increasingly precise searching. This multiple-bearings hypothesis makes a series of detailed predictions about how the distribution of searches will vary as a function of the geometry of the locations of the relevant landmarks and the goal. It also suggests an explanation for inconsistencies in the literature on the effects of clock-shifts on searching and on homing.
Kamil
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Departments of Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0118, USA. akamil@unlserve.unl.edu
Cheng
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K
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D005502:Food; D006702:Homing Behavior; D008954:Models, Biological; D009949:Orientation; D013028:Space Perception