Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial orientation of the golden hamster in conditions of conflicting location-based and route-based information

  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The orientation of golden hamsters during their return from a food source at the centre of an experimental arena to their nest at the arena's periphery was examined. The experiments took place under different visual conditions and involved conflicting spatial information, which the animal could collect either en route, during the outward journey to the food source, or on site, at the point of departure of the return trip. When the arena and nest box were rotated before the start of the trial (so that the hamsters started the outward journey from different points in absolute space), the animals returned directly to the point of departure of each particular hoarding trip when tested under infra-red light. Deprived of visual cues, they resorted to route-based information, i.e. they depended on the registration and computation of cues which had been generated during the outward journey. If tested under the ordinary room lights, the animals returned in a constant direction towards the usual location of the nest box, but with slight deviations towards the changing point in space where they had initiated each hoarding trip. They therefore relied mainly on stable location-based features from the distant visual background which they had associated with the standard location of the nest entrance; at the same time, however, they were also influenced by information derived from the outward journey. If exposed to a weak light source from outside the arena, the animals' homing behaviour reflected the simultaneous influence of three categories of information: (a) The light as a stable, location-based cue which the subjects had associated with the usual location of the nest; (b) the registration of the previous outward journey by means of internal (idiothetic) path-dependent variables; and (c) the registration of the previous outward journey using the light as visual reference. These results illustrate the interplay and functional hierarchy of various categories of spatial information which the hamster, active at dusk and at night, can use in laboratory conditions as well as in its natural habitat.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker RR (1981) Human navigation and the sixth sense. Hodder and Stoughton, London Sidney Auckland Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker RR (1984) Bird navigation. Hodder and Stoughton, London Sidney Auckland Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry RE, Francq EN (1980) Orientation to landmarks within the preferred habitat by Peromyscus leucopus. J Mamm 61:292–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Barth FG, Seyfarth EA (1971) Slit sense organs and kinesthetic orientation. Z Vergl Physiol 74:326–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Batschelet E (1981) Circular statistics in biology. Academic press, London New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brotzler A (1963) Untersuchungen zum Orientierungsverhalten des syrischen Goldhamsters (Mesocricetus auratus Water-house). Z Vergl Physiol 47:148–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooke JA, Terman CR (1977) Influence of displacement distance and vision on homing behavior of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis). J Mamm 58:58–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Durup M (1970) Etude expérimentale sur les capacités d'orientation et de localisation olfactives chez le hamster doré Mesocricetus auratus Waterh. Mammalia 34:18–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Emerson VF (1980) Grating acuity of the golden hamster. Exp Brain Res 38:43–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Etienne AS (1987) The control of short-distance homing in the golden hamster. In: Ellen P, Thinus-Blanc C (eds) Cognitive processes and spatial orientation in animal and man, vol. 1. Nato ASI Series. Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht Boston Lancaster, pp 233–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Etienne AS, Teroni E, Maurer R, Portenier V, Saucy F (1985) Short-distance homing in a small mammal: the role of exteroceptive cues and path integration. Experientia 41:122–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Etienne AS, Maurer R, Saucy F, Teroni E (1986a) Short-distance homing in the golden hamster after a passive outward journey. Anim Behav 34:696–715

    Google Scholar 

  • Etienne AS, Maurer R, Portenier V, Saucy F, Teroni E (1986b) Short-distance homing in the golden hamster under conditions of darkness and light. In: Beugnon G (ed) Orientation in space. Proceedings of the 19th IEC. Toulouse 1985. Privat, Toulouse, pp 33–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlay BL, Berian CA (1985) Visual and somatosensory processes. In: Siegel HI (ed) The hamster: reproduction and behavior. Plenum press, New York London, pp 409–433

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlay BL, Sengelaub DR, Berg AT, Cairns SJ (1980) A neuroethological approach to hamster vision. Behav Brain Res 1:479–496

    Google Scholar 

  • Flueharty SL, Taylor DH, Barrett GW (1976) Sun-compass orientation in the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvaticus). J Mamm 57:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Görner P, Claas B (1985) Homing behavior and orientation in the funnel-web spider, Agelena labyrinthica Clerk. In: Barth FG (ed) Neurobiology of arachnids. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 275–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Haigh GR (1979) Sun-compass orientation in the thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus). J Mamm 60:629–632

    Google Scholar 

  • Joslin JK (1977) Rodent long distance orientation (“Homing”). In: Fayden AM (ed) Advances in ecological research. Academic Press, London, pp 63–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Keselica JJ, Rosinski RR (1976) Spatial perception in colliculectomized and normal golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Physiol Psychol 4:511–514

    Google Scholar 

  • Lüters W, Birukow G (1963) Sonnenkompassorientierung der Brandmaus (Apodemus agrarius Pall). Naturwissenschaften 50:737–738

    Google Scholar 

  • Mather JG, Baker RR (1980) A demonstration of navigation by small rodents using an orientation cage. Nature 284:259–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Mather JG, Baker RR (1981) Magnetic sense of direction in woodmice for route-based navigation. Nature 291:152–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H (1985) Analytical cybernetics of spider navigation. In: Barth FG (ed) Neurobiology of arachnids. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 298–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H, Mittelstaedt ML (1973) Mechanismen der Orientierung ohne richtende Aussenreize. Fortschr Zool 21:46–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H, Mittelstaedt ML (1982) Homing by path integration. In: Papi F, Wallraff HG (eds) Avian navigation. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 290–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Morin LP (1985) Biological rhythms. In: Siegel HI (ed) The hamster: reproduction and behavior. Plenum Press, New York London, pp 323–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Munn NL (1950) Handbook of psychological research on the rat. Riverside Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Newsome AE, Cowan PE, Ives PM (1982) Homing by wild house-mice displaced with or without the opportunity to see. Aust Wildl Res 9:421–426

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Keefe J, Conway DH (1978) Hippocampal place units in the freely moving rat: why they fire where they fire. Exp Brain Res 31:573–590

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Keefe J, Nadel L (1978) The hippocampus as a cognitive map. Clarendon Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Olton DS (1979) Mazes, maps and memory. Am Psychol 34:583–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Olton DS, Samuelson RJ (1976) Remembrance of places passed: spatial memory in rats. J Exp Psychol: An Behav Proc 2:97–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Olton DS, Collison C, Werz MA (1977) Spatial memory and radial arm maze performance of rats. Learn and Motiv 8:289–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons LM, Terman CR (1978) Influence of vision and olfaction on the homing ability of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis) J Mamm 59:761–771

    Google Scholar 

  • Pico RM, Davis JL (1984) The radial maze performance of mice: assessing the dimensional requirements for serial order memory in animals. Behav Neurol biol 40:5–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Pico RM, Gerbrandt LK, Pondel M, Ivy G (1985) During stepwise cue deletion, rat place behaviors correlate with place unit responses. Brain Res 330(2):369–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Restle F (1957) Discrimination of cues in mazes: a resolution of the place versus response question. Psychol Rev 64:217–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffman HR (1971) Depth perception of the Syrian hamster as a function of age and photic condition of rearing. J Comp Physiol Psychol 76:491–495

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider GE (1967) Contrasting visuomotor functions of tectum and cortex in the golden hamster. Psychol Forschung 31:52–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider GE (1969) Two visual systems. Science 163:895–902

    Google Scholar 

  • Sengelaub DR, Windrem MS, Finlay BL (1983) Increased cell number in the adult hamster retinal ganglion cell layer after early removal of one eye. Exp Brain Res 52:269–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth EA, Barth FG (1972) Compound slit sense organs on the spider leg: mechanoreceptors involved in kinesthetic orientation. J Comp Physiol 78:176–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth EA, Hergenröder R, Ebbes H, Barth FG (1982) Idiothetic orientation of a wandering spider: compensation of detours and estimates of goal distance. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 11:139–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki S, Augerinos G, Black AH (1980) Stimulus control of spatial behavior on the eight-arm maze in rats. Learn and Motiv 11:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Thinus-Blanc C (1978) Volume discrimination in golden hamsters. Perc Motor Skills 46:1007–1015

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiao YC, Blakemore C (1976) Regional specialization in the golden hamster's retina. J Comp Neur 168:439–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Vauclair J, Gramoni R, Meyer J-J, Zinder M (1977) Golden hamster's visual responsiveness to red and near infra-red wavelengths measured with behavioral and electrophysiological methods. Biol Behav 2:353–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Vauclair J, Emmanuelli E, Etienne AS (1984) Sensory modalities in depth perception by golden hamsters. Perc Motor Skills 58:291–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Zoladek L, Roberts WA (1978) The sensory basis of spatial memory in the rat. Anim Learn Behav 6:77–81

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Ethologic, FPSE, Université de Genève, CH-1211, Genève 4, Switzerland

    Evelyne Teroni, Véronique Portenier & Ariane S. Etienne

Authors
  1. Evelyne Teroni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Véronique Portenier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ariane S. Etienne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Teroni, E., Portenier, V. & Etienne, A.S. Spatial orientation of the golden hamster in conditions of conflicting location-based and route-based information. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 20, 389–397 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302981

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302981

Keywords

Search

Navigation