Paulsson, Niklas I; Taborsky, Michael (2021). Reaching Out for Inaccessible Food Is a Potential Begging Signal in Cooperating Wild-Type Norway Rats, Rattus norvegicus. Frontiers in psychology, 12(712333), p. 712333. Frontiers Research Foundation 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712333
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Begging is widespread in juvenile animals. It typically induces helpful behaviours in parents and brood care helpers. However, begging is sometimes also shown by adults towards unrelated social partners. Adult Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) display a sequence of different behaviours in a reciprocal food provisioning task that have been interpreted as such signals of need. The first behaviour in this sequence represents reaching out for a food item the animal cannot obtain independently. This may reflect either an attempt to grasp the food object by itself, or a signal to the social partner communicating the need for help. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we tested in female wild-type Norway rats if the amount of reaching performed by a food-deprived rat changes with the presence/absence of food and a social partner. Focal rats displayed significantly more reaching behaviour, both in terms of number and total duration of events, when food and a potentially helpful partner were present compared to when either was missing. Our findings hence support the hypothesis that rats use reaching behaviour to signal need to social partners that can help them to obtain food.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Behavioural Ecology 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Paulsson, Niklas Ingvar, Taborsky, Michael |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology) |
ISSN: |
1664-1078 |
Publisher: |
Frontiers Research Foundation |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Anja Ebeling |
Date Deposited: |
11 Jul 2023 14:20 |
Last Modified: |
16 Jul 2023 02:27 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712333 |
PubMed ID: |
34526936 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
communication cooperation food provisioning helping honest signalling iterated prisoner's dilemma prosocial behaviour reciprocity |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/184683 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/184683 |
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