Mesotocin influences pinyon jay prosociality.

Many species exhibit prosocial behavior, in which one individual’s actions benefit another individual, often without an immediate benefit to itself. The neuropeptide oxytocin is an important hormonal mechanism influencing prosociality in mammals, but it is unclear whether the avian homologue mesotocin plays a similar functional role in birds. Here, we experimentally tested prosociality in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), a highly social corvid species that spontaneously shares food with others. First, we measured prosocial preferences in a prosocial choice task with two different payoff distributions: Prosocial trials delivered food to both the subject and either an empty cage or a partner bird, whereas Altruism trials delivered food only to an empty cage or a partner bird (none to subject). In a second experiment, we examined whether administering mesotocin influenced prosocial preferences. Compared to choices in a control condition, we show that subjects voluntarily deliv...诸多物种均展现出亲社会行为（prosocial behavior），即某一个体的行为可使另一个体获益，而自身通常无法即刻获得收益。神经肽催产素（oxytocin）是调控哺乳动物亲社会行为的关键激素通路，但目前仍不清楚鸟类的同源肽中催产素（mesotocin）是否在鸟类中发挥类似的功能作用。本研究以丛松鸦（Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus）——一种高度社会化的鸦科物种，且会自发与同类共享食物——为研究对象，通过实验探究其亲社会行为。首先，我们借助包含两种不同收益分配方案的亲社会选择任务，测试丛松鸦的亲社会偏好：在亲社会试次中，实验对象可获得食物，同时食物也会被送至空笼或同伴所在的笼中；而在利他试次中，食物仅会被送至空笼或同伴笼中，实验对象自身无法获得任何食物。在第二项实验中，我们探究了注射中催产素是否会影响丛松鸦的亲社会偏好。与对照组的选择结果相比，本研究发现实验对象会主动……