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Domestic chickens display signs of empathy, the ability to ''feel
another's pain'' that is at the heart of compassion, a study has found.
The discovery has important implications for the welfare of farm and
laboratory animals, say researchers.
Empathy, long thought to be a
defining human trait, causes one individual to be affected by the emotional
state of another.
Feelings are ''mirrored'' in the observer, leading
to a shared experience of being happy, sad or distressed.
research demonstrated that hens possess a fundamental capacity to empathise,
at least with their own chicks.
Scientists chose hens and chicks for
the study because it is thought empathy probably evolved to aid parental
A number of controlled procedures were carried out which involved
ruffling the feathers of chicks and mother hens with an air puff.
When chicks were exposed to puffs of air, they showed signs of distress that
were mirrored by their mothers. The hens' heart rate increased, their eye
temperature lowered - a recognised stress sign - and they became
increasingly alert. Levels of preening were reduced, and the hens made more
clucking noises directed at their chicks.
Researcher Jo Edgar, from
the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: ''The
extent to which animals are affected by the distress of others is of high
relevance to the welfare of farm and laboratory animals.
has addressed the fundamental question of whether birds have the capacity to
show empathic responses.
''We found that adult female birds possess
at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of 'empathy', the
ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another.''
The findings were reported online today in the journal Proceedings of
the Royal Society B.
Under commercial conditions, chickens regularly
encounter other birds showing signs of pain and distress ''owing to routine
husbandry practices or because of the high prevalence of conditions such as
bone fractures or leg disorders'', said the researchers.
was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council's Animal