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Updated: Oct 5, 2025

A Behavioral Assay for Investigating the Role of Spatial Memory During Instinctive Defense in Mice
Published on: July 21, 2018
Memory drives the formation of animal home ranges: Evidence from a reintroduction
Nathan Ranc1,2, Francesca Cagnacci1,2, Paul R Moorcroft1
1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract:
Most animals live in home ranges, and memory is thought to be an important process in their formation. However, a general memory-based model for characterising and predicting home range emergence has been lacking. Here, we use a mechanistic movement model to: (1) quantify the role of memory in the movements of a large mammal reintroduced into a novel environment, and (2) predict observed patterns of home range emergence in this experimental setting. We show that an interplay between memory and resource preferences is the primary process influencing the movements of reintroduced roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Our memory-based model fitted with empirical data successfully predicts the formation of home ranges, as well as emergent properties of movement and spatial revisitation observed in the reintroduced animals. These results provide a mechanistic framework for combining memory-based movements, resource preferences, and the formation of home ranges in nature.
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