Presentation Details
| Food-Caching Chickadees Do Not Exhibit Age-Related Cognitive Decline Within Their Natural Lifespan Katherine A.Johnson1, Joseph F.Welklin1, Benjamin R.Sonnenberg2, Carrie L.Branch2, Sofia M.Haley1, Ai Ana Richmond1, Eli S.Bridge3, Vladimir V.Pravosudov1. 1University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA.2University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.3University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA |
Abstract
Age-related senescence, or decline in functions, is considered near-universal across the animal kingdom. Cognition is one of the traits that has been reported to start declining early with age, with animals exhibiting gradual cognitive impairments toward the end of life. However, species with strong reliance on cognitive abilities for survival can be expected to evolve some mechanisms allowing them to resist such cognitive senescence throughout their natural lifespan. Here, we tested this hypothesis using food-caching chickadees with specialized spatial cognition required for recovering scattered food caches and surviving harsh winters. Over 10 years, we measured spatial learning and memory in 804 food-caching mountain chickadees ranging from 1 to 10 years old. There was an initial improvement in cognition due to differential mortality of 1- and 2-year-old birds with worse spatial abilities. However, there was no evidence of cognitive decline up to 10 years of age, which is near the maximum lifespan detected in the wild. Our data suggest that food-caching chickadees likely evolved some mechanisms allowing them to maintain their cognitive abilities into old age.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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