Spatial mapping shows that some African elephants use cognitive maps to navigate the core but not the periphery of their home ranges

These files are datasets for an article published in the journal Animal Cognition (Presotto, A., Fayrer-Hosken, R., Curry, C. et al. Spatial mapping shows that some African elephants use cognitive maps to navigate the core but not the periphery of their home ranges. Anim Cogn 22, 251–263 (2019) doi:10.1007/s10071-019-01242-9): Strategies of navigation have been shown to play a critical role when animals revisit resource sites across large home ranges. The habitual route system appears to be a sufficient strategy for animals to navigate while avoiding the cognitive cost of traveling using the Euclidean map. We hypothesize that wild elephants travel more frequently using habitual routes to revisit resource sites as opposed to using the Euclidean map. To identify the elephants’ habitual routes, we created a python script, which accounted for frequently used route segments that constituted the habitual routes. Results showed elephant navigation flexibility traveling at Kruger National Park landscape. Elephants shift strategies of navigation depend on the familiarity of their surroundings. In the core area of their home range, elephants traveled using the Euclidean map, but intraindividual differences showed that elephants were then converted to habitual routes when navigating within the less familiar periphery of their home range. These findings are analogous to the recent experimental results found in smaller mammals that showed that rats encode locations according to their familiarity with their surroundings. In addition, as recently observed in monkeys, intersections of habitual routes are important locations used by elephants when making navigation decisions. We found a strong association between intersections and new segment usage by elephants when they revisit resource sites, suggesting that intersection choice may contribute to the spatial representations elephants use when repeatedly revisiting resource sites.

本数据集对应发表于《动物认知》（Animal Cognition）期刊的一篇论文（Presotto A、Fayrer-Hosken R、Curry C 等。空间映射研究表明部分非洲象借助认知地图导航家域核心区，而非边缘区域。Anim Cogn 22, 251–263 (2019) doi:10.1007/s10071-019-01242-9）：在大型家域内重复造访资源位点时，导航策略对动物而言至关重要。相较于使用欧几里得地图（Euclidean map）导航，习惯路径系统似乎足以帮助动物完成导航且规避认知成本。我们提出假设：野生大象在重复造访资源位点时，会更频繁地采用习惯路径而非欧几里得地图进行移动。为识别大象的习惯路径，我们编写了Python脚本，该脚本可对构成习惯路径的高频使用路段进行统计分析。研究结果展现了克鲁格国家公园（Kruger National Park）内大象的导航灵活性。大象的导航策略会根据其对周边环境的熟悉程度发生切换：在家域核心区，大象会借助欧几里得地图导航；但个体内差异表明，当在熟悉度较低的家域边缘区域导航时，大象会转而采用习惯路径策略。该研究结果与近期针对小型哺乳动物的实验结果一致：大鼠会根据对周边环境的熟悉程度对位置进行编码。此外，正如近期在猴子中观察到的现象，习惯路径的交叉口是大象进行导航决策时的关键节点。我们发现，大象在重复造访资源位点时，其对新路段的使用与交叉口存在显著关联，这表明交叉口选择或许有助于构建大象在重复造访资源位点时所使用的空间表征。