Cognitive abilities are hypothesized to affect survival and life span in nonhuman animals. However, most tests of this hypothesis have relied on interspecific comparisons of indirect measures of cognitive ability, such as brain size. We present direct evidence that individual variation in cognitive abilities is associated with differences in life span in a wild food caching bird. We measured the spatial cognitive abilities and tracked the life span of 227 mountain chickadees ( Poecile gambeli ) in their natural environment and found that individuals with better spatial learning and memory abilities involved in food caching lived longer. These results confirm that enhanced cognitive abilities can be associated with longer life in wild animals and that selection on cognitive abilities can lead to increased life span.

中文翻译：

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空间认知能力与储存食物的山雀的长寿有关


假设认知能力会影响非人类动物的生存和寿命。然而，这一假设的大多数检验都依赖于认知能力间接测量的种间比较，例如大脑大小。我们提出的直接证据表明，认知能力的个体差异与野生食物储存鸟类的寿命差异有关。我们测量了 227 只山雀 (Poecile gambeli) 的空间认知能力，并追踪了它们在自然环境中的寿命，发现具有更好的空间学习和记忆能力的个体寿命更长。这些结果证实，认知能力的增强可能与野生动物的寿命延长有关，并且认知能力的选择可以导致寿命的延长。