Navigation studies in both humans and rats show that females of both species tend to rely on landmarks, while males more typically rely on “dead reckoning”: calculating one’s position by estimating the direction and distance traveled rather than using landmarks.
That ringas a bell with what I was told. Back when I was very new in my career, my immediate boss was suddenly tasked to go to a place we had not been to before, in the middle of the bush. He met up with a colleague who had been there often, on a weekend at a club. Over a large number of beers, he was given distance and direction instructions (e.g. take left fork in road for 2.3 miles...)that were spot on.