Pathogen and Toxin Disgust in Rodents

Kavaliers, Martin; Ossenkopp, Klaus‐Peter; Choleris, Elena

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-84486-8_4

Cited by 2 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 123 publications

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“…A range of different behavior has been observed that are often species-specific, but which all serve to minimize contact with agents or environments that harbor pathogens [24]. This can include social exclusion (i.e., avoiding infection sources), post-copulatory grooming (i.e., removing contaminants), wound licking (i.e., removing contaminants), and diseaseavoidant behavior directed at infants (e.g., cannibalism of a sick infant)-with much of this behavior documented in laboratory rats [37]. Of the empirically studied examples of both micro-and macroparasite avoidance (e.g., avoidance of sick conspecifics and avoidance of fecal-contaminated water), chemosensory cues, again, seem to be particularly important [36,37].…”

Section: Disease-avoidance Behavior In Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Presence of Disgust in Animals

Case,

Stevenson

2024

Animals

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The emotion of disgust in humans is widely considered to represent a continuation of the disease-avoidance behavior ubiquitous in animals. The extent to which analogs of human disgust are evident in nonhuman animals, however, remains unclear. The scant research explicitly investigating disgust in animals has predominantly focused on great apes and suggests that disgust might be present in a highly muted form. In this review, we outline the main approaches to disgust. We then briefly discuss disease-avoidance behavior in nonhuman animals, proposing a set of criteria against which evidence for the presence or absence of disgust in animals can be evaluated. The resultant decision tree takes into account other plausible causes of avoidance and aversion when evaluating whether it is likely that the behavior represents disgust. We apply this decision tree to evaluate evidence of disgust-like behavior (e.g., avoidance of carrion and avoidance of feces-contaminated food) in several examples, including nonhuman great apes. Finally, we consider the large disparity between disgust in humans compared to muted disgust in other great apes, examining the possibility that heightened disgust in humans is a relatively recent cultural acquisition.

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Section: Disease-avoidance Behavior In Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Presence of Disgust in Animals

Case,

Stevenson

2024

Animals

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“…What triggers avoidance? One hypothesis is that disgust, an adaptive system based in neural tissue ( Homo sapiens : Phillips et al, 1997; Macaca mulatta : Caruana et al, 2011; Mus musculus : Dolensek et al, 2020), evolved to detect cues that co‐occur with parasites, pathogens and toxins and instigate behavioural, cognitive and physiological responses that reduce the risk of getting sick (Curtis et al, 2011; Curtis & Biran, 2001; Kavaliers et al, 2021; Oaten et al, 2009; Tybur et al, 2013; Figure 2). For instance, female western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla are likely to leave their group when other members or the mature male (“silverback”) present severe facial skin lesions caused by a Treponema bacterium (Baudouin et al, 2019).…”

Section: Disgust: a Sculpture Of Evolution To Prevent Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In sum, parasite avoidance and disgust involve innate and/or learnt behaviours that evolved in the context of the ecology and social lives of different species (Buck et al, 2018; Curtis, 2014; Kavaliers et al, 2021).…”

Section: Disgust: a Sculpture Of Evolution To Prevent Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most studies exploring the behavioural components of disgust have been performed in a controlled environment with a few model taxa: social insects (Cremer et al, 2007); fish (Behringer et al, 2018); ungulates (Coulson et al, 2018); rodents (Kavaliers et al, 2021); and humans (Tybur et al, 2014). Yet, disgust is gaining more attention in the fields of ecology and animal behaviour.…”

Section: Disgust: a Sculpture Of Evolution To Prevent Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Isg Us T: a Sculp Ture Of E Voluti On To Pre Vent Infec Ti Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disgust in animals and the application of disease avoidance to wildlife management and conservation

Sarabian

Wilkinson

Sigaud

et al. 2023

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Disgust is an adaptive system hypothesized to have evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. It is associated with behavioural, cognitive and physiological responses tuned to allow animals to avoid and/or get rid of parasites, pathogens and toxins. Little is known about the mechanisms and outcomes of disease avoidance in wild animals. Furthermore, given the escalation of negative human‐wildlife interactions, the translation of such knowledge into the design of evolutionarily relevant conservation and wildlife management strategies is becoming urgent. Contemporary methods in animal ecology and related fields, using direct (sensory cues) or indirect (remote sensing technologies and machine learning) means, provide a flexible toolbox for testing and applying disgust at individual and collective levels. In this review/perspective paper, we provide an empirical framework for testing the adaptive function of disgust and its associated disease avoidance behaviours across species, from the least to the most social, in different habitats. We predict various trade‐offs to be at play depending on the social system and ecology of the species. We propose five contexts in which disgust‐related avoidance behaviours could be applied, including endangered species rehabilitation, invasive species, crop‐raiding, urban pests and animal tourism. We highlight some of the perspectives and current challenges of testing disgust in the wild. In particular, we recommend future studies to consider together disease, predation and competition risks. We discuss the ethics associated with disgust experiments in the above contexts. Finally, we promote the creation of a database gathering disease avoidance evidence in animals and its applications.

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Pathogen and Toxin Disgust in Rodents

Cited by 2 publications

References 123 publications

Evaluating the Presence of Disgust in Animals

Evaluating the Presence of Disgust in Animals

Disgust in animals and the application of disease avoidance to wildlife management and conservation

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