Exploration and navigation in the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi): Global calibration as a primer of spatial representation

Journal of Experimental Biology

Volumn 211, Issue 17, 2008, Pages 2817-2826

  Avni, Reut ^a   Tzvaigrach, Yael ^a   Eilam, David ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

Author keywords

Cognitive map; Locale system; Open field; Subterranean rodent

Indexed keywords

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE; ANIMAL; ARTICLE; BEHAVIOR; COMPARATIVE STUDY; CONCEPT FORMATION; EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOR; FEMALE; MALE; MOLE RAT; ORIENTATION; PHYSIOLOGY;

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE; ANIMALS; CONCEPT FORMATION; EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOR; FEMALE; MALE; ORIENTATION; SPALAX; SPATIAL BEHAVIOR;

NANNOSPALAX EHRENBERGI; RATTUS; RODENTIA; SPALACINAE;

EID: 53949102003     PISSN: 00220949     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.019927     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Alyan, S. H. (1996). Evidence for resetting the directional component of path integration in the house mouse (Mus musculus). Ethology 102, 629-638.
2. Avni, R. and Eilam, D. (2008). On the border: perimeter patrolling as a transitional exploratory phase in a diurnal rodent, the fat sand rat (Psammomys obesus). Anim. Cogn. 11, 311-318.
3. Avni, R., Zadicarlo, P. and Eilam, D. (2006). Exploration in a dark open field: A shift from directional to positional progression and a proposed model of acquiring spatial information. Behav. Brain Res. 171, 313-323.
4. Bennett, A. T. D. (1996). Do animals have cognitive maps? J. Exp. Biol. 199, 219-224.
5. Brillhart, D. B. and Kaufman, D. W. (1991). Influence of illumination and surface structure on space use by prairie deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii). J. Mammal. 72, 764-768.
6. Cheng, K. (1986). A purely geometric module in the rat's spatial representation. Cognition 23, 149-178.
7. Cheng, K. (2005). Reflections on geometry and navigation. Connec. Sci. 17, 5-21.
8. Cheng, K. and Gallistel, C. (2005). Shape parameters explain data from spatial transformations: comment on Pearce et al. (2004) and Tommasi and Polli (2004). J. Exp. Psychol. Anim. Behav. Process. 31, 254-259.
9. Clark, B. J., Hamilton, D. A. and Whishaw, I. Q. (2006). Motor activity (exploration) and formation of home bases in mice (C57BL/6) influenced by visual and tactile cues: modification of movement distribution, distance, location, and speed. Physiol. Behav. 87, 805-816.
10. Cooper, H. M., Herbin, M. and Nevo, E. (1993). Visual system of a naturally mterophthalmic mammal: the Wind mole rat, Spalax ehrenbergi. J. Comp. Neurol. 328, 313-350.
11. Drai, D., Kafkafl, N., Benjamini, Y., Elmer, G. and Golani, I. (2001). Rats and mice share common ethotogically relevant parameters of exploratory behavior. Behav. Brain Res. 125, 133-140.
12. Eilam, D. (2004). Locomotor activity in common spiny mice (Acomys cahirinuse): the effect of light and environmental complexity. BMC Ecol. 4, 16.
13. Eilam, D. and Golani, I. (1989). Home base behavior of rats (Rattus norvegicus) exploring a novel environment. Behav. Brain Res. 34, 199-211.
14. Eilam, D. and Shefer, G. (1992). Reversal of interleg coupling in backward locomotion implies a prime role of the direction of locomotion. J. Exp. Biol. 173, 155-163.
15. Eilam, O., Dank, M. and Maurer, R. (2003). Vole scale locomotion to the size of the open-field by adjusting the distance between stops: a possible link to path integration. Behav. Brain Res. 141, 73-81.
16. Erez, A. (2005). Behavioral and morphological aspects in the blind mole-rat Spalax ehrenbergi. MSc Thesis, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
17. Etlenne, A. S. and Jeffery, K. J. (2004). Path integration in mammals. Hippocampus 14, 180-192.
18. Etienne, A. S., Maurer, R. and Seguinot, V. (1996). Path integration and its interaction with visual landmarks. J. Exp. Biol. 199, 201-209.
19. Etienne, A. S., Maurer, R., Berlie, J., Reverdin, B., Rowe, T., Georgakopoulos, J. and Seguinot, V. (1998). Navigation through vector addition. Nature 396, 161-164.
20. Etienne, A. S., Boulens, V., Maurer, R., Rowe, T. and Stegrist, C. (2000). A brief view of known landmarks reorientates path integration in hamsters. Naturwissenschaften 87, 494-498.
21. Foo, P., Duchon, A., Warren, W., Jr and Tarr, M. (2007). Humans do not switch between path knowledge and landmarks when learning a new environment. Psychol. Res. 71, 240-251.
22. Gallistel, C. R. (1990). The Organization of Learning. Cambridge: Bradford/MIT Press.
23. Gorny, J. H., Gorny, B., Wallace, D. G. and Whishaw, I. Q. (2002). Fimbria-fomix lesions disrupt the dead reckoning (homing) component of exploratory behavior in mice. Learn. Mem. 9, 387-394.
24. Heth, G., Nevo, E. and Beiles, A. (1987). Adaptive exploratory-behavior-differential patterns in species and sexes of subterranean mole rats. Mammalia 51, 27-37.
25. Hines, D. J. and Whishaw, I. Q. (2005). Home bases formed to visual cues but not to self-movement (dead reckoning) cues in exploring hippocampectomized rats. Eur. J. Neurosci. 22, 2363-2375.
26. Jacobs, L. F. and Schenk, F. (2003). Unpacking the cognitive map: the parallel map theory of hippocampal function. Psychol. Rev. 110, 285-315.
27. Jones, C., Braithwalte, V. and Healy, S. (2003). The evolution of sex differences in spatial ability. Behav. Neurosci. 117, 403-411.
28. Kimchi, T. and Terkel, J. (2001a). Magnetic compass orientation in the blind mole rat Spalax ehrenbergi. J. Exp. Biol. 204, 751-758.
29. Kimchi, T. and Terkel, J. (2001 b). Spatial learning and memory in the blind mole-rat in comparison with the laboratory rat and Levant vole. Anim. Behav. 61, 171-180.
30. Kimchi, T. and Terkel, J. (2003). Detours by the blind mole-rat follow assessment of location and physical properties of underground obstacles. Anim. Behav. 66, 885-891.
31. Kimchi, T. and Terkel, J. (2004). Comparison of the role of somatosensory stimuli in maze learning in a blind subterranean rodent and a sighted surface-dwelling rodent. Behav. Brain Res. 153, 389-395.
32. Kimchi, T., Etlenne, A. and Terkel, J. (2004). A subterranean mammal uses the magnetic compass for path integration. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 1105-1109.
33. Kimchi, T., Reshef, M. and Terkel, J. (2005). Evidence for the use of reflected self-generated seismic waves for spatial orientation in a blind subterranean mammal. J. Exp. Biol. 208, 647-659.
34. Klauer, G., Burda, H. and Nevo, E. (1997). Adaptive differentiations of the skin of the head in a subterranean rodent, Spalax ehrenbergi. J. Morphol. 233, 53-66.
35. Kramer, D. L. and McLaughlin, R. L. (2001). The behavioral ecology of intermittent locomotion. Am. Zool. 41, 137-153.
36. Loewen, I., Wallace, D. G. and Whishaw, I. Q. (2005). The development of spatial capacity in piloting and dead reckoning by infant rats: use of the huddle as a home base for spatial navigation. Dev. Psychobiol. 46, 350-361.
37. Lorenz, K. (1952). King Solomon's Ring: New Light on Animals Ways. New York: Meridian Books.
38. Maaswinkel, H. and Whishaw, I. Q. (1999). Homing with locale, taxon, and dead reckoning strategies by foraging rats: sensory hierarchy in spatial navigation. Behav. Brain Res. 99, 143-152.
39. Marom, Y. (2005). Path integration as a navigation tool in the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi). Msc Thesis.Tel Aviv University, Israel.
40. Mendelssohn, H. and Yom-Tov, Y. (1999). Fauna palaestina: Mammalia of Israel. Jerusalem: Keterpress Enterprises.
41. Mitteletaedt, H. and Mittelstaedt, M. L. (1982). Homing by path integration. In Avian Navigation (ed. F. Papi and H. G. Wallraff), pp. 290-297. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
42. Muller, M. and Wehner, R. (1994). The hidden spiral: systematic search and path integration in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis. J. Comp. Physiol. A 175, 525-530.
43. Nemati, F. and Whishaw, I. Q. (2007). The point of entry contributes to the organization of exploratory behavior of rats on an open field: an example of spontaneous episodic memory. Behav. Brain Res. 182, 119-128.
44. Nevo, E. (1999). Mosaic Evolution of Subterranean Mammals: Regression, Progression, and Global Convergence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
45. Nevo, E., Heth, G. and Pratt, H. (1991). Seismic communication in a blind subterranean mammal: a major somatosensory mechanism in adaptive evolution underground. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 1256-1260.
46. O'Keefe, J. and Nadel, L. (1978). The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
47. Oster, H., Avivi, A., Joel, A., Albrecht, U. and Nevo, E. (2002). A switch from diurnal to nocturnal activity in S. ehrenbergi is accompanied by an uncoupling of light input and the Orcadian clock. Curr. Biol. 12, 1919-1922.
48. Price, M. V., Waser, N. M. and Bass, T. A. (1984). Effects of moonlight on microhabitat use by desert rodents. J. Mammal. 65, 353-356.
49. Rado, R., Wollberg, Z. and Terkel, J. (1992). Dispersal of young mole rats (Spalax ehrenbergi) from the natal burrow. J. Mammal. 73, 885-890.
50. Rado, R., Terkel, J. and Wollberg, Z. (1998). Seismic communication signals in the blind mole-rat (Spalax ehrenbergi): electrophysiological and behavioral evidence for their processing by the auditory system. J. Comp. Physiol 183, 503-511.
51. Saucier, D., Shultz, S., Keller, A., Cook, C. and Binsted, G. (2008). Sex differences in object location memory and spatial navigation in Long-Evans rats. Anim. Cogn. 11, 129-137.
52. Shettleworth, S. J. and Button, J. E. (2005). Multiple systems for spatial learning: dead reckoning and beacon homing in rats. J. Exp. Psychol. 31, 125-141.
53. Tolman, E. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychol. Rev. 55, 89-208.
54. Whishaw, I. Q. and Brooks, B. L. (1999). Calibrating space: exploration is important for altothetic and idiothetic navigation. Hippocampus 9, 659-667.
55. Whishaw, I. Q., Nines, D. J. and Wallace, D. G. (2001). Dead reckoning (path integration) requires the hippocampal formation: evidence from spontaneous exploration and spatial learning tasks in light (allothetic) and dark (idiothetic) test. Behav. Brain Res. 127, 49-69.
56. Yaski, O. and Eilam, D. (2007). The impact of landmark properties in shaping exploration and navigation. Anim. Cog. 10, 415-428.
57. Zadicario, P., Avni, R., Zadicario, E. and Eilam, D. (2005). 'Looping'- an exploration mechanism in a dark open field. Behav. Brain Res. 159, 27-36.
58. Zuri, I. and Terkel, J. (1996). Locomotor patterns, territory, and tunnel utilization in the mole-rat Spalax ehrenbergi. J. Zool. 240, 123-140.