Back
Full-text
Journal article

Working dogs transfer different tasks in reciprocal cooperation.

  • Gfrerer N Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Bern, Switzerland nastassja.rieder@iee.unibe.ch.
  • Taborsky M Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Bern, Switzerland.
  • 2018-02-16
Published in:
  • Biology letters. - 2018
altruism
domestic dog
generalization
reciprocity
task exchange
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Dogs
Food
Game Theory
Social Behavior
English Direct reciprocity can establish stable cooperation among unrelated individuals. It is a common assumption of direct reciprocity models that agents exchange like with like, but this is not necessarily true for natural interactions. It is yet unclear whether animals apply direct reciprocity rules when successive altruistic help involves different tasks. Here, we tested whether working dogs transfer help from one to another cooperative task in an iterated prisoner's dilemma paradigm. In our experiment, individual dogs received help to obtain food from a conspecific, which involved a specific task. Subsequently, the focal subject could return received favour by using a different task. Working dogs transferred the cooperative experience received through one task by applying an alternative task when they helped a previously cooperative partner. By contrast, they refrained from helping previously defecting partners. This suggests that dogs realize the cooperative act of a conspecific, which changes their propensity to provide help to that partner by different means. The ability of animals to transfer different tasks when helping a social partner by satisfying the criteria of direct reciprocity might explain the frequent occurrence of reciprocal cooperation in nature.
Language
  • English
Open access status
bronze
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.rero.ch/global/documents/247412
Statistics
Document views: 14 File downloads:
  • fulltext.pdf: 0