A brown rat grooming another brown rat. Groomees were prepared to reward their groomers with food
Schweinfurth, Manon Karin (IEE)
Scientists in Bern have shown that animals other than humans can reciprocate an action by exchanging two different social services, in their case food and grooming.
Many examples exist in nature of tit-for-tat cooperation between animals, for example the sharing of food among bees and ants or mutual grooming among birds or apes. However, this cooperation was always thought to follow the principle of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”, in other words one would be repaid in kind. Being repaid in another commodity or service was thought to be unique to humans.
Now, Manon Schweinfurth and Michael Taborsky at the Institute of Ecology and EvolutionExternal link at the University of Bern have shown how brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) apply direct reciprocity rules when exchanging two different social services: food provisioning and allogrooming (social grooming between members of the same species).
“Focal rats were made to experience partners either cooperating or non-cooperating in one of the two commodities. Afterwards, they had the opportunity to reciprocate favours by the alternative service,” they wrote in their paperExternal link “Reciprocal Trading of Different Commodities in Norway Rats” published in the journal Current Biology.
“Test rats traded allogrooming against food provisioning, and vice versa, thereby acting by the rules of direct reciprocity.”
Schweinfurth and Taborsky noted this might indicate that reciprocal altruism among non-human animals was much more widespread than currently assumed.
University students in Switzerland join Gaza protest wave
This content was published on
Pro-Palestinian activists occupied university buildings in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich on Tuesday, widening the protest movement in the Alpine nation.
TradeXBank to resume full operations after Sberbank Switzerland taken off sanctions list
This content was published on
TradeXBank, the former Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank, will be able to resume its dollar-denominated activities from the second half of this year.
Geneva decides not to remove controversial memorials
This content was published on
The city of Geneva has presented an action plan regarding a series of controversial local statues and monuments of historical figures linked to racism, colonialism or slavery.
University of Lausanne calls for end to pro-Palestine sit-in
This content was published on
The pro-Palestinian occupation continues at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). On Monday evening, a group of students refused to agree to the deadline set by the rectorate.
Ukraine peace conference should include Russia, says Chinese ambassador
This content was published on
China supports a peace conference on the Ukraine war that would see equal participation of all parties, says Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui.
This content was published on
A majority of Swiss citizens have open attitudes towards various infertility treatments, including even egg donation, which is currently prohibited.
Reports of Swiss cyber fraud almost doubled in six months
This content was published on
The head of the new Federal Office for Cybersecurity (FOC), Florian Schütz, has presented a new strategy after just over four months in office.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Giving lab rats a break
This content was published on
In Switzerland there are alternatives to animal experimentation, yet they have been slow to win the acceptance of researchers.
Reconstructed rat brain portion marks simulation milestone
This content was published on
The Blue Brain Project, led by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, has completed the first draft of a digital reconstruction of a small portion of the rat brain.
This content was published on
The number of animals used in experiments is continuing to fall, according to the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office.
This content was published on
The treatment, which targets the neural circuits in the spinal cord that control the muscles used for walking, could lead to clinical trials in humans in five years time, scientists hope. The spinal cord is the pathway through which signals from the brain reach the muscles. If it is damaged, transmission is interrupted, preventing muscle…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.