Animals Study shows amazing abilities of mice
If a person falls to the ground unconscious, bystanders usually try to help spontaneously. Now a study shows that mice do this too. Sometimes they even take life-saving measures, as two research teams report in the journal "Science".
20.02.2025, 20:00
SDA
Reports have been circulating for some time that some animal species - such as elephants, dolphins and chimpanzees - help fellow animals in distress. A team led by Wenjian Sun from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has now systematically tested in controlled experiments whether mice also show such helpfulness under laboratory conditions.
The mice encountered conspecifics in cages that were either dead, unconscious or motionless. If they were familiar individuals, the animals took care of them: they approached, sniffed the motionless animal and licked its fur. It was particularly noticeable that they then concentrated on the face and throat, licked the animal's eye or bit its mouth.
Mice cleared airways
In more than half of the experiments, they even pulled the tongue out of the mouth of their unconscious counterpart, thereby de facto enlarging the airways. If a foreign object was placed in the mouth of the motionless animal - such as a plastic ball - the helping mouse usually removed it before tampering with the tongue.
Importantly, the anaesthetized or sedated mice that were cared for in this way actually regained consciousness more quickly than conspecifics without such assistance. And as soon as the animals had recovered, the helpers stopped their care. In other words, the mice only helped for as long as necessary.
Oxytocin plays a decisive role
This is reminiscent of first aid measures for unconscious people, writes the research team. Although it is difficult to identify the motivation of the helpers, curiosity and the desire for social interaction probably played no role, the authors emphasize. Gender also had little influence.
Instead, the study suggests that helping motionless group members is widespread among social animals. A second study by a team led by Fangmiao Sun from the University of California in Los Angeles confirmed the results. This study also suggests that the two brain areas amygdala and nucleus paraventricularis are involved in the behavior and that the messenger substance oxytocin - often referred to as the cuddle or bonding hormone - plays a decisive role.
Presumably innate social behavior
"These behaviors are reminiscent of how humans are taught to clear the airway of an unconscious individual during CPR," write William Sheeran and Zoe Donaldson from the University of Colorado in Boulder in a "Science" commentary. It is presumably an innate social behavior that is common in many species.
