Be kind to others: Prosocial behaviours and their implications for animal welfare

摘要

Social interactions are central to the health and psychological well-being of domestic animals. Until now, research has overwhelmingly focused on negative social behaviours such as aggression or the lack of social interactions such as social separation and isolation. This contradicts the fact that social animals derive benefits from living in a group, and observations that positive forms of social behaviour are the predominant type in stable groups. In particular, prosocial behaviours have been overlooked. As a result, we know little about the breadth of the prosocial behavioural repertoire, the motivation of animals to act prosocially, its modulation by individual and contextual factors, and its ultimate welfare implications.