Alarm Calls Affect Foraging Behavior in Eastern Chipmunks (<i>Tamias striatus</i>, Rodentia: Sciuridae)

Baack, Jessica K.; Switzer, Paul

doi:10.1046/j.1439-0310.2000.00619.x

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This could be classified as typical antipredator responses. Similar responses were found in other sciurids when conspecific or heterospecific alarm calls have been presented (Baack and Switzer 2000;Leger et al 1979;Mateo 1996;Robinson 1981;Weary and Kramer 1995). In contrast, red squirrels showed significantly weaker reactions when an equally loud non-threatening noise was played back (see Shriner 1998).…”

supporting

confidence: 68%

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Anti-predator response of Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) to predator calls of tawny owls (Strix aluco)

Randler

2006

Mammalian Biology

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supporting

confidence: 68%

“…they traded-off vigilance against feeding and vigilance received priority over feeding. Baack and Switzer (2000) found similar results when broadcasting conspecific alarm calls to eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Additionally, red squirrels stopped chewing during the playbacks, i.e.…”

Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 56%

Anti-predator response of Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) to predator calls of tawny owls (Strix aluco)

Randler

2006

Mammalian Biology

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“…It is possible that our air-puff stimulation mimicked a situation frequently encountered in the natural environment where animals are extremely vulnerable to predation while feeding. Chipmunks that have heard a playback of conspecific alarm calls continue to feed but do so more slowly as they spend more time on vigilant behaviors (32). We speculate that predation-related stimuli activate ON cells and thereby evoke a state of vigilant eating without concurrent sensory suppression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Sensory suppression during feeding

Foo

Mason

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Feeding is essential for survival, whereas withdrawal and escape reactions are fundamentally protective. These critical behaviors can compete for an animal's resources when an acutely painful stimulus affects the animal during feeding. One solution to the feeding-withdrawal conflict is to optimize feeding by suppressing pain. We examined whether rats continue to feed when challenged with a painful stimulus. During feeding, motor withdrawal responses to noxious paw heat either did not occur or were greatly delayed. To investigate the neural basis of sensory suppression accompanying feeding, we recorded from brainstem pain-modulatory neurons involved in the descending control of pain transmission. During feeding, pain-facilitatory ON cells were inhibited and pain-inhibitory OFF cells were excited. When a nonpainful somatosensory stimulus preactivated ON cells and preinhibited OFF cells, rats interrupted eating to react to painful stimuli. Inactivation of the brainstem region containing ON and OFF cells also blocked pain suppression during eating, demonstrating that brainstem pain-modulatory neurons suppress motor reactions to external stimulation during homeostatic behaviors.homeostasis ͉ nociceptive modulation ͉ pain ͉ raphe magnus ͉ ON and OFF cells B ehaviors such as eating, drinking, micturition, and defecation are essential for an organism's survival and are affected by exposure to aversive stimuli. Stress-induced eating and defecation occur across species and can be triggered by exposure to a painful stimulus (1-4). Yet, very little is known about the effects of feeding (eating and drinking), micturition, and defecation on pain sensitivity. In food-deprived animals, eating takes precedence over pain-motivated behaviors. During eating, fooddeprived cats were less likely to withdraw from acute noxious cutaneous heat (5), and food-deprived chickens showed fewer pain-motivated behaviors in response to chronic pain induced by sodium urate (6). However, responses to a painful stimulus are affected by the hunger͞satiation state (7), and it remains to be determined whether these analgesic effects can be generalized to animals that have been fed freely. Consequently, the aim of Experiment 1 was to examine whether the drive to satisfy hunger still overrides the need to avoid pain in non-food-deprived animals. We found that feeding suppressed pain in rats that were fed ad libitum.The suppression of pain during feeding indicates the activation of endogenous pain modulatory pathways. The brainstem ventromedial medulla (VMM) is a critical area in the descending control of pain and is the final common pathway from the brain to the spinal cord (8-11). The VMM modulates pain bidirectionally: its activation can produce either pain facilitation or pain inhibition (10-16). The pain-facilitatory and pain-inhibitory effects are thought to be mediated by two populations of neurons with opposing responses to noxious stimulation and morphine (17)(18)(19)(20). Cells activated by noxious stimulation are inhibited by opioids. These cel...

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“…Some rodent species, such as prairie voles, engage in social monogamy (McGraw and Young 2010). Others, such as members of the squirrel family, emit alarm calls (Baack and Switzer 2000; Blumstein et al 1997; Mateo and Holmes 1999). By studying small rodents, we can collect large sample sizes that help us to elucidate the anatomy, physiology, and genetics underlying social bonding, social learning, empathy, cooperation, and altruistic behaviors.…”

Section: Social Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Reward and Empathy as Proximal Contributions to Altruism: The Camaraderie Effect

Lahvis

2016

Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences

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Natural selection favors individuals to act in their own interests, implying that wild animals experience a competitive psychology. Animals in the wild also express helping behaviors, presumably at their own expense and suggestive of a more compassionate psychology. This apparent paradox can be partially explained by ultimate mechanisms that include kin selection, reciprocity, and multilevel selection, yet some theorists argue such ultimate explanations may not be sufficient and that an additional “stake in others” is necessary for altruism’s evolution. We suggest this stake is the “camaraderie effect,” a by-product of two highly adaptive psychological experiences: social motivation and empathy. Rodents can derive pleasure from access to others and this appetite for social rewards motivates individuals to live together, a valuable psychology when group living is adaptive. Rodents can also experience empathy, the generation of an affective state more appropriate to the situation of another compared to one’s own. Empathy is not a compassionate feeling but it has useful predictive value. For instance, empathy allows an individual to feel an unperceived danger from social cues. Empathy of another’s stance toward one’s self would predict either social acceptance or ostracism and amplify one’s physiological sensitivity to social isolation, including impaired immune responses and delayed wound healing. By contrast, altruistic behaviors would promote well-being in others and feelings of camaraderie from others, thereby improving one’s own physiological well-being. Together, these affective states engender a stake in others necessary for the expression of altruistic behavior.

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Alarm Calls Affect Foraging Behavior in Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus, Rodentia: Sciuridae)

Cited by 21 publications

References 46 publications

Anti-predator response of Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) to predator calls of tawny owls (Strix aluco)

Anti-predator response of Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) to predator calls of tawny owls (Strix aluco)

Sensory suppression during feeding

Social Reward and Empathy as Proximal Contributions to Altruism: The Camaraderie Effect

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