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Experimental peripheral administration of oxytocin elevates a suite of cooperative behaviours in a wild social mammal
Open accessAbstract
The evolution and expression of different forms of cooperative behaviour (e.g. feeding, guarding, sentinel duties, etc.) are usually studied independently, with few studies considering them as a single syndrome. However, studies investigating individuals' investment across a suite of different behaviours reveal that they are correlated, suggesting a single mechanism determining the evolution and expression of cooperative behaviours. A hormonal mechanism could achieve this, and one possibility is oxytocin (OT), which affects several prosocial or alloparental behaviours independently. We show, using a double-blind experiment, that peripheral administration of OT to social, free-living meerkats Suricata suricatta elevates a suite of cooperative behaviours. Treated individuals increase their contributions to communal, cooperative activities (digging, guarding, pup-feeding and associating with pups) and decrease initiation of aggressive interactions, compared with a saline control. This suggests that different forms of cooperative behaviour form a single syndrome with a common causal basis. If our peripherally administered OT acts in the same way as the naturally released hormone, then a general tendency to prosociality may be modulated by this hormonal system. Therefore, it may be difficult for an individual to decouple expression of cooperative behaviours that provide the practitioner with benefits from those that provide the recipient with benefits. It may also explain why social species typically exhibit a suite of cooperative behaviours, without having to invoke independent evolution of each.
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“If exogenously administered, oxytocin enhances cooperative behaviour [22,23] between related animals, and behaviours associated with trust [24][25][26] and generosity [27] between unrelated humans.”
From Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees (2014) · cites this paper as [22]
In the citing paper
“In another study, administering oxytocin into peripheral blood in meerkats induced a whole suite of cooperative behaviors including pup-feeding, guarding, digging and decreased aggression (Madden and Clutton-Brock, 2011), suggestive of enhanced prosocial motivation.”
From Endogenous peripheral oxytocin measures can give insight into the dynamics of social relationships: a review (2014) · cites this paper as Madden and Clutton-Brock, 2011
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The oxytocin receptor: from intracellular signaling to behavior
Jurek, B., & Neumann, I. D. (2018) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00031.2017 · Cited by 999
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“In free-livingmeerkats, for example, peripheral administration of oxytocin increased a suite of cooperative behaviors, including digging, guarding, pupfeeding, and associating with pups (Madden and Clutton-Brock, 2011).”
Urinary oxytocin and social bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees
Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., Langergraber, K., Ziegler, T. E., Zuberbühler, K., & Deschner, T. (2013) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2765 · Cited by 347
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“These findings resonate with the literature on oxytocin and maternal defense, as well as with studies showing that wild meerkats infused with oxytocin (versus) placebo not only more strongly engage in cooperative behaviors, including digging, food sharing, and attending to offspring, but also spend longer time on guar…”
ResultOxytocin-Motivated Ally Selection is Moderated by Fetal Testosterone Exposure and Empathic Concern
Kret, M. E., & Dreu, C. K. W. D. (2013) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2013.00001 · Cited by 288
“…and this in turn may be driven by the same neurobiological circuitries as other forms of group-serving behaviors such as parochial altruism, social attachment, and parental care (Madden and Clutton-Brock, 2011; De Dreu, 2012a). al., 2005; Ludwig and Leng, 2006; Donaldson and Young, 2008).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Madden, J. R., & Clutton-Brock, T. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2010-10-06
- Volume
- 278
- Issue
- 1709
- Pages
- 1189-1194
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC3049071
- OpenAlex
- W2149573805
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 10.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Pretoria
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- oxytocin, cooperative behavior, prosocial behavior, MeerKAT, Suricata suricatta, communal feeding, guarding, aggression, social mammals, hormone administration, evolution of cooperation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Cooperative Behavior, Biological Evolution, Herpestidae, Oxytocin
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