A new study from the Keck School of Medicine reveals mice, like humans, are able to carry out first aid on their unconscious companions – deeming them the real big cheese.
Stereotypically, it is believed that when a mouse, rat or other rodent falls ill it is simply left to die by other members of its litter. However, new research, which was funded by the US National Institutes of Health, revealed mice try and bring their friends ‘back to life’.
brown rodent on brown dried leaves
Experts discovered this behaviour by accident, albeit a happy one. Wenjian Sun, the first author of the study, said: ‘The behaviour was especially unique due to its similarity to how humans behave in emergency responses. I had never seen this behaviour before.’
Wenjian Sun, Research Associate at Keck School of Medicine’s Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, first witnessed the rehabilitative behaviour among mice paired together in a separate unrelated study. This promoted further research.
Though mice were found to perform first aid similar to humans, it isn’t exactly the same. Scientists found that mice sniff, groom and lick the head of the unconscious mouse and even pull at their tongue, which researchers said ‘accelerated recovery from the unconscious’ state.
Cycle of emergency responses demonstrated by the mice in the study (Science Journal)
To conduct the research, scientists employed both behavioural monitoring and a machine-based analyst to assess how a ‘bystander’ mouse would react to coming across a member of its own species placed under anaesthesia.
The findings, which have been published in the online journal Science and can be accessed in full here, showed that in more than 50% of cases a mouse pulled on the unconscious mouse’s tongue to help open up their airways.
What’s more, when a small plastic ball had been placed in the unconscious mouse’s mouth, four out of five removed it.
‘Our findings thus suggest that animals exhibit reviving-like emergency responses and that assisting unresponsive group members may be an innate behaviour widely present among social animals,’ Sun said. ‘Such behaviour likely plays a role in enhancing group cohesion and survival.’
Feature image by Joshua J. Cotten via UnSplash
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