A new way to study teaching in animals: despite demonstrable benefits, rat dams do not teach their young what to eat

Teaching is an altruistic act. Therefore, it is most likely to occur when pupil and teacher are closely related, costs to teachers of teaching are small, and benefits to pupils of being taught are large. Here, we determined, first, whether Rattus novegicus dams would modify their food choices to teach their young which of two foods was safe to eat, and second, whether such teaching by mothers would be effective, if it occurred. We examined food choices of rat dams trained to eat one of two foods that their young could access when the dams could also access a third, more palatable food that their pups could not reach (three-bowl condition). These dams spent no more time eating the safe food available to their young than did control dams, which had access to the same three foods, but were not trained to avoid one of the two foods available to their young. Thus, dams that had learned that a food available to their offspring was toxic, failed to act to protect their young. When dams were trained to avoid one of only two foods available to them and their young (two-bowl condition), the young avoided the food that their dam had learned to avoid longer than did young of dams in the three-bowl condition. Thus, young of dams in the three-bowl condition would have been less likely to eat toxic food if their dams had behaved appropriately. The present paradigm, though providing no evidence of teaching by rat dams, should permit investigation of teaching in many vertebrate species. (c) 2005 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.