Creatures IRL use actual pathfinding as the last resort to conserve brain power.
Normally they rely on life-hacks like memorizing a route once found (even if it's not optimal), the right/left hand rule for going around obstacles and other such.

For example: I had a dog once, many years ago. I was walking it, and it ran behind a wire mesh fence with a hole in it. Then followed me until she ran into a corner. Whoops.
So what did she do seeing me going ahead? She whined, she ran back and forth along the fence several times (using right/left hand algorithm of obstacle avoidance). Then she looked at me one more time and I practically felt that click in her brain as she dashed hurriedly back to the hole.
The question is: did she use A* or was it a modified breadcrumbs algorithm as she clearly knew the path I followed and her point of departure from that path?