Pinyon jays became more likely to
share food when given high doses of 'bird oxytocin'
Josh Gabbatiss Science
Correspondent
Tuesday 10 April 2018 23:04 BST
The Independent Online
Administering birds with
a “love hormone” similar to one found in humans, makes them more generous to
their friends.
Oxytocin is
a chemical messenger found in the human brain that has gained popular
recognition due to its role in regulating behaviours as diverse as empathy,
orgasms and bonding between mothers and babies.
But despite its involvement in
complex behaviours that seem very human, oxytocin is also found in other
animals.
“Oxytocin is what we call this
hormone in mammals, however, the hormone itself is evolutionary ancient and
found in animals that are only very distantly related to mammals,” Dr Juan
Duque, a neuroscientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln told The
Independent..
“We call this hormone ‘mesotocin’
in birds, but this is essentially avian oxytocin.”
Less clear to scientists is to
what extent the effects observed in humans and other mammals can be applied to
birds.
So Dr Duque and his colleagues
investigated the pinyon jay – a highly social bird related to crows.
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