COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY Animal Cognition

1. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGYAnimal Cognition ANIMAL NAVIGATION To Navigate means to find one’s way. Homing –An animal trying to find a specific target, such as one’s home, point of origin, or a food store. (Perdeck 1958) Adult starlings adjusted their flying direction to take account of their displaced starting position, after Perdeck arranged the starlings to be moved from the Netherlands to Switzerland. Migrant birds also navigate to get home, to their place of origin, this is called homing. Migration – Is defined as long distance travel, usually with a return, to specific locations (Grier & Burk, 1992). Migration is found in many species of birds and fish and generally involves large numbers of animals travelling together. Also the distances involved can be impressive. Golden plovers have been known to fly 2400 miles non – stop from Labrador in Canada to South America. LANA CROSBIE

2. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGYAnimal Cognition INSTINCTUAL INFLUENCES The initiation of migratory behaviour is largely under instinctual control. Migration evolved to cope with the differing environmental locations of food, warmth and mating sites. Some species have therefore, developed an instinctual behavioural tendency to migrate, this seems to be triggered by environmental cues, such as temperature and day length rather than experience or imitation. Instinctual influences does not explain the precise location of original home sites on the return journey – clearly learning is required for this. LANA CROSBIE

3. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGYAnimal Cognition LEARNING OF LANDMARKS The precise location of home sites can be explained by experience – animals simply learn landmarks on the way out and ‘reverse the order on the way back’ (Ridley, 1995). Tinbergen and Kruyt (1938) – showed how digger wasps learn the environmental landmarks surrounding their burrow. If landmarks are moved, the wasps will search for their burrow in the wrong place. [see diagrams above] CONT… LANA CROSBIE

4. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGYAnimal Cognition LEARNING OF LANDMARKS cont. Learning can explain short range locations, it is less satisfactory explanation of migration. The amount of landmarks, on a long journey, would be enormous and all need to be recognised in reverse order on the return journey! Even if this does occur , it does not explain when a animal is blown or moved ‘off course’. This is led to researchers to investigate whether true navigational ability is found in animals. LANA CROSBIE

5. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGYAnimal Cognition TRUE NAVIGATIONAL ABILITY Perdeck (1958) found that although juvenile European Starlings would migrate accordingto a general compass direction, adult starlings had developed navigational skills and could adjust their flight if artificially moved to the south. True navigation, as opposed to route learning, should only be suspected, however, if animals are taken to completely unfamiliar locations and still manage to find their way home. True navigation seems to be an innate ability which improves with practise. Compass in animals – Pigeons use the position of the sun plus an internal clock. Magnets in animals – Pigeons, bees and migratory fish have been found to possess magnetite particles in their bodies. LANA CROSBIE

6. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGYAnimal Cognition EXAM QUESTIONS (a) Outline two explanations of animal navigation. (12 marks) (b) Evaluate the two explanations of animal navigation that you outlined in part (a) in terms of relevant research studies. (12 marks) Discuss two explanations of animal navigation. (24 marks) Critically consider research studies into homing and / or migration in non – human animals. (24 marks) LANA CROSBIE