Characteristics of spatial memory in cattle

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to examine spatial memory of cattle. In Study 1, six heifers were trained and observed in a radial-and parallel-arm maze at two levels of complexity. Grain was placed at the end of each arm, and heifers were released individually and allowed to choose arms freely until all grain was consumed. Incorrect choices occurred when heifers entered a previously entered arm. At the 4-arm level, the mean number of correct choices in the first four entrances was 3.83 and 3.60 for the radial and parallel mazes, respectively. At the 8-arm level, the number of correct choices in the first eight entrances was 7.78 and 7.36, respectively. Heifers were slightly more efficient (P<0.05) in the radial maze in which directional and distal cues were more pronounced. In Study 2, two sets of monozygous twin steers were trained in a radial-arm maze using similar procedures as Study 1. The mean number of correct choices in the first eight entrances was 7.68. A variable delay interval was then imposed between Choices 4 and 5. Steers rarely made errors after delay intervals from 5 rain to 4 h. Performance appeared to decline (P< 0.1) after an 8-h delay interval. Accuracy declined dramatically (P< 0.001) after a 12-h delay interval. The mean number of correct choices in the first eight entrances was 7.63, 7.29 and 5.80 for delay intervals of 4, 8 and 12 h, respectively. Cattle appear to have the ability to associate several locations with food resources and to remember the locations for periods of up to 8 h.

Observations of cattle use of prairie dog towns

“…great (Bailey 1988, Bailey et al 1996. It may be that the differences in forage quantity or quality between prairie dog towns and swales on the shortgrass steppe were not sufficiently large for cattle to change their foraging rates.…”

Entrance order and side preference of dairy cows in the milking parlour

“…In fact, through choice test, it has been demonstrated that a cow, placed in front of a Y-shaped arm, prefers to enter where some food was previously received as a reward (Hosoi et al, 1995) and escape from the arm where restraint was experienced . Other studies pointed out that cows have a good spatial memory and were able to remember the association between the position and the food received (Kovalcik and Kovalcikova, 1986;Bailey et al, 1989).…”

Genetic Influences on Cattle Grazing Distribution: Association of Genetic Markers with Terrain Use in Cattle

“…Cattle have accurate spatial memories (Bailey et al, 1989), and spatial 429 learning is likely to be a critical factor in grazing behavior (Bailey 430 et al, 1996;Laca, 1998). Therefore additional research should be con-431 ducted to understand this candidate gene and its role in influencing cat-432 tle grazing distribution.…”