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Hippocampus and Spatial Memory in Brood Parasitic Cowbirds

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Avian Brood Parasitism

Part of the book series: Fascinating Life Sciences ((FLS))

Abstract

Natural selection can modify cognition and its neural mechanisms if these modifications enhance fitness. Brood parasites are ideal subjects to study sex-specific adaptations in cognition and the brain because it is often females that search for potential host nests, and some species as a result show a reversal of sex-typical space use usually seen in mammals. Research from North and South America shows that female brown-headed (Molothrus ater) and shiny (M. bonariensis) cowbirds have a larger hippocampus than males, and female brown-headed cowbirds exhibit more hippocampal neurogenesis than males. Female cowbirds have better spatial memory than males in some tasks, especially tasks requiring long-term spatial memory in an ecologically relevant context. The hippocampus and spatial memory in cowbirds appear to be specialized for brood parasitism. Because of their diversity and unusual breeding biology, brood parasites offer many opportunities for investigating general questions about the adaptive modification of cognition and the brain.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the reviewers, Juan C. Reboreda, Romina C. Scardamaglia, and Manolo Soler, for constructive comments on earlier drafts of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada

    Mélanie F. Guigueno

  2. Advanced Facility for Avian Research, Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    David F. Sherry

Authors
  1. Mélanie F. Guigueno
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  2. David F. Sherry
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mélanie F. Guigueno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Manuel Soler

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Guigueno, M.F., Sherry, D.F. (2017). Hippocampus and Spatial Memory in Brood Parasitic Cowbirds. In: Soler, M. (eds) Avian Brood Parasitism. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73138-4_11

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