1 The comparative cognition of caching de Kort, S. R. 1 , Tebbich, S. 1 , Dally, J. M. 1 , Emery, N. J. 2 , & Clayton, N. S 1 1 Department of Experimental Psychology & 2 Sub-department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB The avian food-caching paradigm has greatly contributed to our understanding of a number of cognitive capacities. Although the early work focused on spatial memory, contemporary studies of the cognitive abilities of food-caching birds have a much broader scope, ranging from episodic-like memory and mental time travel to aspects of social cognition such as observational spatial memory of other birds’ caches and elements of mental attribution. A major strength of using the food-caching paradigm to test for cognitive abilities lies in the combination of ethological validity coupled with rigorous experimental control. Thus, food-caching is a naturally occurring behavior, but one that birds will readily perform in the laboratory. And, unlike many of the standard psychological tests of animal memory, the birds do not need to be trained to cache or recover. Yet, the very fact that memory for food caches can be tested in captive birds allows a level of control that would be difficult, if not impossible, in the field. For example, we can control for the time elapsed between caching and the first opportunity to recover that cache, as well as whether or not the animal can use cues emanating directly from the caches at the time of recovery. And, we can test hand-raised birds that have spent their life in captivity, ones whose reinforcement histories are well documented and whose previous experiences can be experimentally manipulated.