Do pet dogs reciprocate the receipt of food from familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics?

ABSTRACT: Reciprocity is one of the most prominent explanations for the evolution of stable cooperation. Although reciprocity has been studied for decades in numerous animal species and behavioural contexts, its underlying proximate mechanisms remain unclear. Domestic dogs provide a useful model species for the study of proximate mechanisms, though there are currently inconsistent findings regarding dogs' propensity to reciprocate. Here, we investigated whether, after minimal training, pet dogs would press a button, which remotely controlled a food dispenser, to deliver food to an enclosure occupied by a helpful conspecific that had provided them with food or an unhelpful conspecific that had not provided them with food. We included an asocial control condition in which the enclosure was unoccupied

SUBMITTER: McGetrick J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7616333 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature