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Science 13 August 1982:
Vol. 217. no. 4560, pp. 655 - 657
DOI: 10.1126/science.217.4560.655
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Articles

Spatial Learning as an Adaptation in Hummingbirds

SUSAN COLE 1, F. REED HAINSWORTH 1, ALAN C. KAMIL 2, TERRE MERCIER 3, and LARRY L. WOLF 3

1 Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13210
2 Departments of Psychology and Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003
3 Department of Biology, Syracuse University

An ecological approach based on food distribution suggests that humming birds should more easily learn to visit a flower in a new location than to learn to return to a flower in a position just visited, for a food reward. Experimental results support this hypothesis as well as the general view that differences in learning within and among species represent adaptations.

Submitted on May 12, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Y. Winter and K. P. Stich (2005)
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Possible Levels of Animal Consciousness with Reference to Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus).
I. M. Pepperberg and S. K. Lynn (2000)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 40, 893-901
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)