Spatial memory: are lizards really deficient?

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Spatial memory: are lizards really deficient?

• Received June 4, 2012.
• Accepted August 7, 2012.

Authors

1. L. D. LaDage 1,*,
2. T. C. Roth 2,
3. A. M. Cerjanic 3,
4. B. Sinervo 4 and
5. V. V. Pravosudov 1

Author  Affiliations

1. ¹Department of Biology, University of Nevada, mail stop 314, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA
2. 
   
   ²Department of Biology, Kenyon College, 310 Higley Hall, Gambier, OH 43022, USA
3. 
   
   ³Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Nevada, mail stop 260, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89557, USA
4. 
   
   ⁴Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC-Santa Cruz, Earth and Marine Sciences Building Room A-316, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA

1. ↵*Author for correspondence (lladage@unr.edu).

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Abstract

In many animals, behaviours such as territoriality, mate guarding, navigation and food acquisition rely heavily on spatial memory abilities; this has been demonstrated in diverse taxa, from invertebrates to mammals. However, spatial memory ability in squamate reptiles has been seen as possible, at best, or non-existent, at worst. Of the few previous studies testing for spatial memory in squamates, some have found no evidence of spatial memory while two studies have found evidence of spatial memory in snakes, but have been criticized based on methodological issues. We used the Barnes maze, a common paradigm to test spatial memory abilities in mammals, to test for spatial memory abilities in the side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana). We found the existence of spatial memory in this species using this spatial task. Thus, our study supports the existence of spatial memory in this squamate reptile species and seeks to parsimoniously align this species with the diverse taxa that demonstrate spatial memory ability.

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L. D. LaDage, T. C. Roth, A. M. Cerjanic, B. Sinervo, & V. V. Pravosudov (2012).
Spatial memory: are lizards really deficient?

The Royal Society Biology Letters
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0527

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Spatial memory: are lizards really deficient?.