Biology
Cognitive Maps and Spatial Memory in Clark's Nutcrackers
Quick fact
Clark's nutcrackers can remember the locations of thousands of individual seed caches for up to nine months, even after the landscape is buried under snow, relying on spatial memory that rivals that of humans.
Why this is interesting
Every autumn, a single bird hides up to 30,000 seeds across miles of rugged terrain—and then finds them months later under snow. How does it remember where they are?