Experimental evidence for reciprocity in allogrooming among wild-type Norway rats.

ABSTRACT: If individuals help more those who have previously helped them, stable cooperation may ensue through alternation of roles between donors and recipients. Allogrooming, which is costly to donors and beneficial to recipients, is often exchanged between social partners. Arguably, allogrooming and allopreening are the most frequently exchanged social services and have been used as a standard model of reciprocal cooperation. However, evidence for the application of reciprocity rules among social partners allogrooming each other hitherto is merely correlational. Here, we tested whether female Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) apply the decision rule characterising direct reciprocity: help someone who has helped you before, by experimentally manipulating both the need for allogrooming and the behavi

SUBMITTER: Schweinfurth MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5479849 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature