Cognitive performance is linked to survival in free-living African striped mice

Author:

Rochais Celine1ORCID,Schradin Carsten12ORCID,Pillay Neville1

Affiliation:

1. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa

2. IPHC, UNISTRA, CNRS, 23 Rue du Loess, 67200 Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Cognition is shaped by evolution and is predicted to increase fitness. However, the link between cognition and fitness in free-living animals is unresolved. We studied the correlates of cognition and survival in a free-living rodent inhabiting an arid environment. We tested 143 striped mice ( Rhabdomys pumilio ) using a battery of cognitive tests, including: (i) an attention task, (ii) two problem-solving tasks, (iii) a learning and reversal learning task, and (iv) an inhibitory control task. We related cognitive performance with days of survival. Better problem-solving and inhibitory control performance were significant correlates of survival. Surviving males showed greater reversal learning which may be related to sex-specific behavioural and life-history characteristics. Specific cognitive traits and not a composite measure of general intelligence underpins fitness in this free-living rodent population, enhancing our understanding of the evolution of cognition in non-human animals.

Funder

University of the Witwatersrand

the National Research Fundation

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine

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