Mountain birds beat the odds
Wednesday, February 25, 2015 - 11:00
in Biology & Nature
Mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli), a North American bird in the tit family, store away food for later occasions. These birds are found at different elevations where varying winter conditions are experienced. Previous research showed that mountain chickadees living at harsher high elevations have bigger hippocampi, the part of the brain which plays an important role in memory and spatial navigation. These chickadees also have far superior spatial memory. This helps them to be better at remembering where they hid food away.