title: Ontogeny of object permanence in a non-storing corvid species, the jackdaw (Corvus monedula).
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the ontogeny of object permanence in a non-caching corvid species, the jackdaw (Corvus monedula). Jackdaws are often presented as typical examples of non-storing corvids, as they cache either very little or not at all. We used Uzgiris and Hunt's Scale 1 tasks to determine the age at which the certain stages set in and the final stage of this capacity that is reached. Our results show that the lack of food-storing behaviour is not associated with inferior object permanence abilities in the jackdaw, as our subjects (N = 19) have reached stage 5 competence (to follow successive visible displacements) at the average age of 61 days post-hatch and showed some evidence of stage 6 competence (to follow advanced invisible displacements) at 81 days post-hatch and thereafter. As we appreciate that object permanence abilities have a very wide ecological significance, our positive results are probably the consequence of other, more fundamental ecological pressures, such as nest-hole reproduction or prey-predator interactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ethology, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE), Pázmány P. sétány 1c., Budapest, 1117, Hungary. ujfalussydori@gmail.com
authors.forename: Dorottya Júlia
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Ujfalussy
authors.forename: Ádám
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Miklósi
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bugnyar
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D046368:Crows / Q000254:growth & development; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008568:Memory