美国内华达大学里诺分校Joseph F. Welklin团队近期取得重要工作进展，他们研究提出，食物储藏山雀的空间认知能力与寿命有关。相关研究成果2024年9月6日在线发表于《科学》杂志上。
据介绍，认知能力被假设会影响非人类动物的生存和寿命。然而，对这一假设的大多数检验都依赖于对认知能力间接测量的种间比较，如大脑大小。
研究人员提供了直接证据，表明认知能力的个体差异与野生食物储藏鸟的寿命差异有关。研究人员测量了227只山雀在自然环境中的空间认知能力，并追踪了它们的寿命，发现在食物缓存中具有更好的空间学习和记忆能力的个体寿命更长。
总之，这些结果证实，认知能力的增强可能与野生动物的寿命延长有关，对认知能力的选择可以延长寿命。
附：英文原文
Title: Spatial cognitive ability is associated with longevity in food-caching chickadees
Author: Joseph F. Welklin, Benjamin R. Sonnenberg, Carrie L. Branch, Virginia K. Heinen, Angela M. Pitera, Lauren M. Benedict, Lauren E. Whitenack, Eli S. Bridge, Vladimir V. Pravosudov
Issue&Volume: 2024-09-06
Abstract: Cognitive abilities are hypothesized to affect survival and life span in nonhuman animals. However, most tests of this hypothesis have relied on interspecific comparisons of indirect measures of cognitive ability, such as brain size. We present direct evidence that individual variation in cognitive abilities is associated with differences in life span in a wild food caching bird. We measured the spatial cognitive abilities and tracked the life span of 227 mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) in their natural environment and found that individuals with better spatial learning and memory abilities involved in food caching lived longer. These results confirm that enhanced cognitive abilities can be associated with longer life in wild animals and that selection on cognitive abilities can lead to increased life span.
DOI: adn5633
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn5633
来源：科学网 小柯机器人