• Y Pan, M Li, X Yi, Q Zhao, C Lieberwirth, Z Wang, and Z Zhang.
• State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, PR China.
• Neuroscience. 2013 Jan 1;255:76-85.

AbstractFood hoarding, especially scatter hoarding and retrieving food caches, requires spatial learning and memory and is an adaptive behavior important for an animal's survival and reproductive success. In the present study, we examined the effects of hoarding behavior on cell proliferation and survival in the hippocampus of male and female Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus). We found that chipmunks in a semi-natural enclosure displayed hoarding behavior with large individual variations. Males ate more scatter-hoarded seeds than females. In addition, the display of hoarding behavior was associated with increased cell proliferation in the hippocampus and this increase occurred in a brain region-specific manner. These data provide further evidence to support the notion that new cells in the adult hippocampus are affected by learning and memory tasks and may play an important role in adaptive behavior.Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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