Look at this vole. Just look at him! How could you not love these little guys, with their chubby little rodent bodies and squirrelly hands? Only a soulless monster wouldn't feel anything when they look at a photo of these little angels. And, as it turns out, prairie voles agree: when they see each other, they feel emotions analogous to human empathy and love.
The rodents are mouse-like creatures who generally live in weedy areas like unplowed prairies (hence the name). You may have seen one and mistaken her for a mouse. The species is making waves thanks to a study published today, affirming that voles have a capacity for empathy formerly thought to be singular to large-brained animals.
In the study, these highly social animals were forced to see members of their social group in states of anxiety and duress (presumably at the hands of the researchers). The generally monogamous animals were placed in an enclosure with their anxious mate, who had been exposed to some kind of stressor. The one who had not been anxious then became anxious, which seems to indicate that she felt empathy for her partner. She then displayed consoling behaviors, like grooming and touching him. This was repeated with many pairs, and the response was the same each time.
Like humans, other mammals use the same tactics to console their sad or anxious friends, including slow, sustained touch and soothing movements.
After the animals interacted, their limbic systems were studied, revealing that the incident had triggered a release of corticosterone, a stress hormone. In other words, voles who see their loved ones stressed out become stressed out themselves. Their oxytocin receptors were also involved. Oxytocin is the famous "love hormone" which is responsible for feelings of affection and is stimulated by sex. Oxytocin is believed to be present in all mammals.
Interestingly, voles did not have the same empathetic response to strangers. Like humans, the animals were more likely to want to help and console the animals with whom they shared a bond. According to Popular Science, the voles' response was "uniform" among every animal in the study. It is worth noting, however, that meadow voles, who are significantly less social, displayed none of the consoling behaviors.
Animal rights group PETA weighed in on the study. In a statement to Tech Times, Senior Director Colleen O'Brien wrote, "Now that science has affirmed that animals [like humans] possess consciousness, too, our poor excuses for abusing them hold even less credibility than before."
The research builds on previous findings that prairie voles experience something analogous to romantic love for their sexual partners, as opposed to random members of the opposite sex.
The study was published Jan. 21 in the journal Science.
