Saving the injured: Evolution and mechanisms.
Commun Integr Biol 2017;
10:e1356516. [PMID:
29260800 PMCID:
PMC5731505 DOI:
10.1080/19420889.2017.1356516]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2017] [Revised: 07/01/2017] [Accepted: 07/05/2017] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Rescue behavior focused on injured individuals has rarely been observed in animals. These observations though are from very different taxa's: birds, mammals and social insects. Here we discuss likely antecedents to rescue behaviors in ants, like social carrying and alarm pheromones. We then compare similarities and preconditions necessary for rescue behavior focused on injured individuals to evolve across taxa's: a high value of individuals, a high injury risk and social interaction. Ultimately we argue that a similar problem, how to rescue injured group members, has led to different mechanisms to save injured individuals across different taxa.
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