Do goats exhibit prosocial motivation? Insights from a novel food-giving paradigm

• Published in: Royal Society open science Vol. 12; no. 5; p. 250556
• Main Authors: Pahl, Annkatrin, Rault, Jean-Loup, McGetrick, Jim, Eggert, Anja, Nawroth, Christian, Langbein, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 01.05.2025
• Subjects: altruism; cognition; Fake Apple Tree; farm animals; Organismal and Evolutionary Biology; prosociality; ungulates; Fake Apple Tree; prosociality; cognition; farm animals; altruism; ungulates
• ISSN: 2054-5703; 2054-5703
• DOI: 10.1098/rsos.250556

Research on prosociality in animals has largely focused on a few model species and a limited range of experimental paradigms. To expand this scope, we developed an ecologically relevant food-giving paradigm, the Fake Apple Tree, designed to assess prosocial motivation in goats ( Capra hircus ) by st...