Mouse providing first aid to unconscious companions

When they unconsciously find another mouse, it appears that some mice are trying to revive their companions by stepping into them and biting them and pulling their tongues aside to clean their airways. This finding suggests that caregiving behavior may be more common in animal kingdoms than we thought.

There have been rare reports of large social mammals trying to help such types of incapacitated members. Wild chimpanzee touching and licking injured companion, Dolphins who try to push their suffering podmates into the surface can breathe and Elephants provide support to sick relatives.

now, Lee Chang The University of Southern California (USC) and his colleagues filmed what happened when they introduced a familiar cagemate who was active or anesthetized and unresponsive to a laboratory mouse.

In a series of tests, on average, animals spent about 47% of the 13-minute observation window to interact with their unconscious partners, showing three different behaviors.

“They start with sniffing, then grooming, and very intensive or physical interactions,” says Zhang. “They really open their mouths and pull out their tongues.”

These more physical interactions included licking the eyes and chewing on the area of the mouth. After focusing on the mouth, the mice pulled the tongue of their unresponsive partner in more than 50% of cases.

In another test, the researchers gently placed a non-toxic plastic ball in the mouth of an unconscious mouse. In 80% of cases, the support mouse successfully removed the object.

“If you extend the observation window, your success rate can be even higher,” says team members. Huizhong Taoeven at USC.

The awakened mouse began walking again earlier than it was unharmed for the mouse. Then, as their responsibility moved and responded, the caregiver’s mouse slowed down and stopped the caregiving behavior.

Additionally, caregiver mice spent more time when they were familiar with unconscious mice than they had previously met.

Restoration behavior is not an analog of CPR that requires specialized training, Zhang says. It’s like awakening someone using a strong smelly salt or slapping, or doing basic first aid so that the unconscious person can breathe. It is also important during surgery to place the tongue of anesthetized patients to prevent airway blockage, he says.

Zhang and his colleagues found that behavior is driven by oxytocin-releasing neurons in the amygdala and hypothalamic regions of the brain. The hormone oxytocin is involved in other compassionate behaviors in a wide range of vertebrate species.

Similar behavior has been reported in lab mice Along with research papers Also explained by another team By the third team last month.

“I have never observed these types of behavior when I run experiments in the lab, but have never left a recovery animal with my partner until I have fully awakened.” Christina Marquez at the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Coimbra, Portugal. “The fact that three independent labs observe similar behaviors indicates that this is a robust finding, but we are observing what we observe in nonhuman species; We really need to be aware that we personify too many things that result from intentions that go beyond what is observed.”

Zhang and his colleagues believe that the behavior is innate, not learned. This is because all animals tested were only 2-3 months old and never saw this behavior or anesthetized cage companions.

He suggests that such instinctive behavior plays a role in strengthening group cohesion and may be more widespread among social animals than we have seen.

It may be difficult to see this behavior in wild mice, says Marquez. “Mouses are often prey animals that do not live in large groups, so they usually hide very well from us. However [the fact] That we haven’t seen it doesn’t mean they don’t do it. ”