Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 08:11:23 +0200
From: Mario Vaneechoutte <Mario.Vaneechoutte@rug.ac.be>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: bird memes
Mark M. Mills wrote:
> More evidence that memetics relates to more of the animal kingdom than man
> alone.
>
> >From the Dallas Morning News: (9/21/98)
>
> "A new study suggests that scrub jays can remember important events in
> their lives - what happened, where it happened and when. Some researchers
> have proposed that only people were capable of this type of recollection,
> known as episodic memory.
>
> But in the latest issue of the journal 'Nature,' researchers from the
> University of California, Davis, and the University of Cambridge in England
> report that birds do it too. The scientists gave scrub jays some worms and
> peanuts, the birds hid them in trays.
>
> Later, when the birds were allowed to retrieve their food, they knew where
> they had stored worms and peanuts, knew where to find them, and even more
> significantly, the researchers said, remembered when the food had been
> hidden. If the birds were allowed to retrieve the food four hours after
> they had hidden it, they went straight t\for the worms. But, if the birds
> were made to wait five days, they went straight for the peanuts, even
> though they ware known to prefer worms.
>
> The scientists had taught the jays that after five days, the worms spoil.
> The jays went for the peanuts after 5 days, which means they have a sense
> of time, the researchers wrote." (Sue Goetinck)
The Nature reference is: Nature 395: 215-216 (comment) and Nature 395: 272-278.
Clayton & Dickinson, original article.
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
-- Mario Vaneechoutte Department Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology & Immunology University Hospital De Pintelaan 185 9000 GENT Belgium Phone: +32 9 240 36 92 Fax: +32 9 240 36 59 E-mail: Mario.Vaneechoutte@rug.ac.beJ. Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit/
The memetic origin of language: humans as musical primates http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit/1998/vol2/vaneechoutte_m&skoyles_jr.html
=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit