Relatedness decreases and reciprocity increases cooperation in Norway rats

Schweinfurth, Manon Karin; Taborsky, Michael (2018). Relatedness decreases and reciprocity increases cooperation in Norway rats. Proceedings of the Royal Society. Series B - biological sciences, 285(1874) Royal Society of London 10.1098/rspb.2018.0035

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Kin selection and reciprocity are two mechanisms underlying the evolution of cooperation, but the relative importance of kinship and reciprocity for decisions to cooperate are yet unclear for most cases of cooperation. Here, we experimentally tested the relative importance of relatedness and received cooperation for decisions to help a conspecific in wild-type Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). Test rats provided more food to non-kin than to siblings, and they generally donated more food to previously helpful social partners than to those that had refused help. The rats thus applied reciprocal cooperation rules irrespective of relatedness, highlighting the importance of reciprocal help for cooperative interactions among both related and unrelated conspecifics.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Behavioural Ecology

UniBE Contributor:

Schweinfurth, Manon Karin, Taborsky, Michael

Subjects:

500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)

ISSN:

0962-8452

Publisher:

Royal Society of London

Language:

English

Submitter:

Joachim Gerhard Frommen

Date Deposited:

06 May 2019 18:35

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:24

Publisher DOI:

10.1098/rspb.2018.0035

PubMed ID:

29514963

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.124577

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/124577

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