How Cognitive Skills Boost Chickadee Lifespan

A recent study underscores the importance of intelligence in the animal kingdom, alongside survival of the fittest. Carrie Branch, an expert in animal behavior and cognition from Western University, led a research team that studied mountain chickadees over more than ten years to explore how spatial memory affects their lifespan. The team observed that chickadees with superior spatial learning and food caching abilities lived significantly longer.

Published in Science on September 5, this research highlights that better cognitive skills are associated with increased longevity in wild chickadees. According to Branch, who is also affiliated with the Advanced Facility for Avian Research at Western, the key to survival and reproduction for these birds lies in their ability to effectively find, store, and retrieve food.

While cognitive ability has been recognized as crucial for survival and longevity, past research often depended on indirect measures such as brain size. Despite their small brains, mountain chickadees excelled in the complex experiments designed for them in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Branch speculated that the chickadees’ advanced cognitive skills might be linked to their social structures, although this theory is still under investigation. The study confirms that chickadees with better spatial cognition can successfully locate and retrieve stored food, which contributes to their longer lifespan.

These birds, common in North America, can hide up to 80,000 seeds for winter, making their ability to remember these locations crucial for survival.

Longer Lifespan Equals More Offspring

The research involved testing the birds’ cognitive skills using radio frequency-based feeders, which opened for tagged birds and provided food rewards. The study revealed that chickadees with the best spatial cognitive abilities lived, on average, two years longer than those with less effective spatial skills.

Mountain chickadees reproduce annually, laying about seven eggs per clutch. Birds with superior cognitive abilities might produce up to 14 additional offspring over their lifetime compared to those with weaker cognitive skills. Previous studies have also shown that females tend to have more offspring when paired with intelligent males.

Branch pointed out that chickadees with advanced spatial abilities are better equipped to handle extreme weather and climate change, as their skills help them efficiently retrieve cached food, enhancing their chances of survival in challenging environments.