Humans, other mammals, and many bird species use cognitive maps (mental representations of the external world and their place in it) to navigate. Now, for the first time, amphibians have been shown to do so too.
TANYA LOOS: ‘A cognitive map is a mental representation of the external world, and our place in it, allowing us to plot the most efficient route to any destination. Humans, other mammals and many bird species use them – and now for the first time, amphibians have been shown to do so, too. Poison arrow frogs, members of the Dendrobatidae family and native to South and Central America, have a parenting style that requires sophisticated navigation and spatial recall in their complex rainforest habitat.
After their eggs hatch in damp leaf litter on the forest floor, the adults transport the tadpoles, one or two at a time, to tiny ephemeral pools of water in tree holes and epiphytes such as bromeliads. The parents spend considerable time locating and monitoring the pools to ensure their tadpoles remain in water. Field based studies on the frogs have suggested that parents most probably use a cognitive map to locate their tadpoles, but laboratory experiments are necessary to conclusively establish its existence…
A team of US researchers, led by Sabrina Burmeister from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, trained five adult green-and-black poison dart frogs (Dendrobates auratus) to use a modified version of the Morris water maze, which they dubbed the moat maze. The Morris water maze has been used with some success with rats in cognitive map research, with trained animals learning visual cues to locate a hidden platform under opaque water, and thus be able to stop swimming… The team noted that the performance of the frogs was on par with rodents in a classic Morris water maze, and represents the first conclusive evidence of a cognitive map in an amphibian’. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: