Empathy in chickens

05mei2011
Source: livescience.com
Calling an overprotective mother a 'mother hen' is even more accurate than was previously thought: a study of hens and their chicks has shown that chickens can express empathy.
Empathy is the ability to be touched by or share others’ emotions. Most empathy studies are done on mammals, as it was expected that empathy is related to caring for young the way mammals do. However, observing empathy in chickens could point to the behaviour having originated in a more distant ancestor.

In the study, hens and their chicks were exposed to a small burst of compressed air which triggered light stress without pain or damage. The hens and their chicks were separated but could see, smell and hear each other. When the hens were exposed to the compressed air, they paid more attention to the environment. When the chicks were exposed to the compressed air, however, the hens’ reactions were more drastic. The pulse and temperature in the comb (measured with a thermal camera) rose; the chicks were called to the hen. The hen became more alert and she groomed her feathers less. These phenomena suggest stress in the mother in reaction to the treatment of the chicks. In calling the chicks to her, the hen is trying to change the situation.

This study was carried out by Joanne Edgar at the University of Bristol and is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.