Forest chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) remember the location of numerous fruit trees

It is assumed that spatial memory contributes crucially to animal cognition since animals’ habitats entail a large number of dispersed and unpredictable food sources. Spatial memory has been investigated under controlled conditions, with different species showing and different conditions leading to varying performance levels. However, the number of food sources investigated is very low compared to what exists under natural conditions, where food resources are so abundant that it is difficult to precisely identify what is available. By using a detailed botanical map containing over 12,499 trees known to be used by the Taï chimpanzees, we created virtual maps of all productive fruit trees to simulate potential strategies used by wild chimpanzees to reach resources without spatial memory. First, we simulated different assumptions concerning the chimpanzees’ preference for a particular tree species, and, second, we varied the detection field to control for the possible use of smell to detect fruiting trees. For all these assumptions, we compared simulated distance travelled, frequencies of trees visited, and revisit rates with what we actually observed in wild chimpanzees. Our results show that chimpanzees visit rare tree species more frequently, travel shorter distances to reach them, and revisit the same trees more often than if they had no spatial memory. In addition, we demonstrate that chimpanzees travel longer distances to reach resources where they will eat for longer periods of time, and revisit resources more frequently where they ate for a long period of time during their first visit. Therefore, this study shows that forest chimpanzees possess a precise spatial memory which allows them to remember the location of numerous resources and use this information to select the most attractive resources

Space, time, activity and human error: Using space-time constraints to interrogate the degree of uncertainty in survey-based movement datasets

Tourist activity is generally frenetic even while seemingly being relaxed. A significant change has been the rise in free, independent travellers who choose to tour autonomously and visit multiple destinations to their own schedules. This development has had major ramifications, impacting on local environments and communities by stimulating their economies but simultaneously demanding new facilities, displacing certain activities, and transmitting ideas and even disease as tourists contacting with their hosts becomes wider and more intense. Such tourism is quintessentially tied up with a dynamic geography of movement that generates demand and supply at different spatial scales. A growing recognition of these outcomes has highlighted the significance of movement data as a resource for understanding many aspects of human and animal activity and their geographies. Consequently, research interest has accelerated on the back of enhanced capabilities for tracking individual entities' movements, typically with GPS sensors that collect individual time-tagged locational data cheaply and accurately. Prior to this, most movement studies used a paper-based survey methodology for data capture which was reliant on respondents' recall of movement or the keeping of a diary. Unlike the GPS, this process permitted data capture which is enriched by information on the respondent's profile, and ongoing activity, time use, and attitude, a distinction which continues to validate this methodology in a number of contexts. Legacy datasets gathered using surveys are known to have (non fatal) sources of inaccurate or incomplete responses, which in general have been documented only to a limited degree. This paper is concerned with using GIS technologies to more fully interrogate a case study database (tourists travel survey) so as to identify: (i) the level of uncertainty in given responses from individuals, (ii) the pattern of missing data and (iii) the degree to which such datasets can be en

Sex differences in dogs’ social learning of spatial information

We used a modified version of the Do as I Do paradigm to investigate dogs’ preference and flexibility in the acquisition of different types of spatial information in social learning situations. When required to match the location of the demonstration, dogs (N = 16) preferentially relied on allocentric information, i.e., the relationship between the location of the demonstration and the various objects surrounding it. However, when allocentric cues were inadequate to solve the task, dogs learned to rely on egocentric information, i.e., the direction—left/right— taken by the human demonstrator. The ease of resorting to the non-preferred egocentric strategy was sex-dependent with males acquiring the egocentric strategy in fewer trials than females. This study shows that dogs rely preferentially on allocentric cues when recalling socially acquired spatial information. However, they are impressively flexible in switching to egocentric strategies according to the task requirements. Whether preference for the allocentric strategy in processing spatial information is embedded in the nature of social learning or restricted to our paradigm is an open question. This study also supports the idea that sex differences in cognitive domains are widespread among mammals and calls for further investigations aimed at shedding light on the evolution, function and mechanisms of such differences

Evolutionary factors in design preferences

There is a large body of research documenting sex differences in certain visual-spatial skills, and relating these differences to evolutionary factors. There is also a growing body of work documenting sex differences in design preferences. This article seeks to bring these bodies of work together, presenting a model suggesting that sex differences in visual-spatial abilities may have worked alongside evolutionary pressures to encourage the sex differences observed in design preferences. It will also seek to identify areas in our knowledge where there are gaps, and, from these, suggest areas for further research. It will begin by reviewing the literature on sex differences in visual-spatial abilities, and then consider the literature concerning sex differences in design productions and preferences. From there, it will address possible evolutionary explanations and attempt to tie these different strands of research together