Do solitary foraging nocturnal small mammals plan their routes?

Do solitary foraging nocturnal mammals plan their routes?

Marine Joly and Elke Zimmermann

Published online before print April 27, 2011, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0258Biol. Lett. 23 August 2011 vol. 7 no. 4 638-640

Here is a thought provoking paper on small mammals.

It is an established fact that large-brained diurnal mammals with complex social systems plan where and how to reach a resource. This is established by a systematic movement pattern analysis.

Here the researchers examined for the first time large-scale movement patterns of a solitary-ranging and small-brained mammal, the mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus). They used the change-point test and a heuristic random travel model to get insight into foraging strategies and route-planning abilities.

Seven lemurs were radio-collared and their foraging patterns examined. The researchers say the change-points coincided with out-of-sight keystone food resources. Travel paths were more efficient in detecting these resources than a heuristic random travel model within limits of estimated detection distance.

The researchers signs off suggesting that even nocturnal, solitary-ranging mammals with small brains plan their route to an out-of-sight target. Thus, similar ecological pressures may lead to comparable spatial cognitive skills irrespective of the degree of sociality or relative brain size.