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Working dogs transfer different tasks in reciprocal cooperation

Nastassja Gfrerer, Michael Taborsky
Published 14 February 2018.DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0460
Nastassja Gfrerer
Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Bern, Switzerland
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  • For correspondence: nastassja.rieder@iee.unibe.ch
Michael Taborsky
Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, 3032 Hinterkappelen, Bern, Switzerland
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Abstract

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.

Footnotes

  • Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3983982.

  • Received July 21, 2017.
  • Accepted January 18, 2018.
  • © 2018 The Author(s)
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February 2018
Volume 14
, issue 2
Biology Letters: 14 (2)
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Keywords

altruism
domestic dog
generalization
reciprocity
task exchange
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Working dogs transfer different tasks in reciprocal cooperation
Nastassja Gfrerer, Michael Taborsky
Biol. Lett. 2018 14 20170460; DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0460. Published 14 February 2018
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Research article:

Working dogs transfer different tasks in reciprocal cooperation

Nastassja Gfrerer, Michael Taborsky
Biol. Lett. 2018 14 20170460; DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0460. Published 14 February 2018

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