Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
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Re: Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
#2There wasn't much, but small discussion (39 points, 5 days ago, 3 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261947
Papers:
A neural basis for prosocial behavior toward unresponsive individuals https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2679
Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2677
An innate drive to save a life https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv3731
Re: Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
#3There wasn't much, but small discussion (39 points, 5 days ago, 3 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261947 Papers: A neural basis for prosocial behavior toward unresponsive individuals https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2679 Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2677 An innate drive to save…
I think it’s a different paper?
An innate drive to save a life https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv3731?url_ver=...
Re: Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
#4There wasn't much, but small discussion (39 points, 5 days ago, 3 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261947 Papers: A neural basis for prosocial behavior toward unresponsive individuals https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2679 Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2677 An innate drive to save…
I think it’s a different paper? An innate drive to save a life https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv3731?url_ver=...
I don't see a link to that in this article? The previous article linked all three - I've updated (but the first was prioritised in the body of that post)
In this Times piece, a study author, interviewed by NPR, was part of the paper: Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2677
It's strange all three papers have different authors from different edus (colorado.edu, ecla.edu, NIH, esc.edu)
Re: Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
#5It's reasonably easy to see any herbivore receiving a fitness advantage for evolving this trait, since they are more likely to use it on close kin with whom they share a fraction of their genes than on any unrelated conspecific.
It's interesting, however, to see that the small brain size of mice is still enough to support it. I suspect it has something to do with the hypothalamus/whole brain size ratio.
Since rodents have been established to be capable of experiencing entrained trauma responses (stress hormones, hypervigilance, disturbed sleep habits, reduced sociality and panic behavior to audio triggers) and the OP establishes non-parental caregiving behavior, the combination of the two suggest it's likely that they can feel some version of guilt, shame or grief in the instances where their resuscitation reflex is unsuccessful.
Re: Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
#6It's reasonably easy to see any herbivore receiving a fitness advantage for evolving this trait, since they are more likely to use it on close kin with whom they share a fraction of their genes than on any unrelated conspecific. It's interesting, however, to see that the small brain size of mice is still enough to support it. I suspect it has something to do with the hypothalamus/whole brain size ratio. Since rodents…
Ants exhibit rather complex first-aid behavior in response to wounded nest-mates (amputating mangled limbs, coating wounds in anti-microbial secretions, carrying the victim off to safety, feeding the wounded ant while it recuperates) so it shouldn't be all that surprising that the comparatively huge brains of mice are capable of similar pro-social behaviors. The inner emotional lives of mice are as you say likely to be much richer than the average person gives them credit for.
Re: Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions
#7It's reasonably easy to see any herbivore receiving a fitness advantage for evolving this trait, since they are more likely to use it on close kin with whom they share a fraction of their genes than on any unrelated conspecific. It's interesting, however, to see that the small brain size of mice is still enough to support it. I suspect it has something to do with the hypothalamus/whole brain size ratio. Since rodents…
Ants exhibit rather complex first-aid behavior in response to wounded nest-mates (amputating mangled limbs, coating wounds in anti-microbial secretions, carrying the victim off to safety, feeding the wounded ant while it recuperates) so it shouldn't be all that surprising that the comparatively huge brains of mice are capable of similar pro-social behaviors. The inner emotional lives of mice are as you say likely to…
If the lives of nematodes are rich enough to experience a PTSD-analogue, young honeybees can play with balls and fruit flies enclosed in a glass box can vary their flying behavior in a way that is inconsistent with confusion and consistent with boredom, who knows where the limit is. I once saw a paper that argued the middle germ layer of placozoans might support a rudimentary neural network encoded in glutamate-GABA gradients instead of neurons (since they don't have neurons) that could carry out aversion behavior coordination across the entire placozoan body.