There Is No Place Like Home: Behavioral and Physical Home Traits in Humans and Other Animals

In both humans and other animals, home demonstrates a typical functional organization, as well as behavioral and cognitive perspectives. It is an extension of individual space and accordingly reflects the identity and personification of its inhabitants. Beyond its role as a place of comfort, rest, and intimacy, home functions as a hub and anchor for traveling away from it, organizing patterns of movement, routines, and spatial memories. These, altogether, form a living range that may be considered an extension of home. Indeed, the traits of home manifest across multiple scales, ranging from the individual's home to hometown, homeland, and, ultimately, Earth itself. Finally, the concept of home is also relevant in both homeless humans and animals that develop behavioral home substitutes under conditions of transience, mobility, or displacement. Collectively, the concept of home-at-large reveals notable similarities and a convergence of home-related behaviors between human and nonhuman species.