The orientation of the golden hamster to its nest-site after the elimination of various sensory cues.
Golden hamsters hoard food by carrying it back to their nest-site along a fairly direct path. 7 out of 12 animals continued to orientate in this way after passive transportation to the food source and the simultaneous elimination of visual, olfactory and acoustical cues. Experiments in which the hamsters tried to reach their nest-box from al unfamiliar place suggest that they orientate in a given direction with respect to a 'compass', the nature of which has still to be determined.