Go wild! Study finds victories put animals in a good mood

ANIMALS are just like us, it seems, as in many cases they are led by their emotions and response to past experiences.

A new theory from researchers at Queen’s University Belfast suggests animals experience emotions much like humans – exhibiting positive moods when they ‘win’ and negative moods when they ‘lose’.

Using animal contests as a casestudy, in terms of how they fight for resources, such as f ood, the researchers suggest that just as depressed or anxious humans are more pessimistic about the future, animals that lose fights will be in a more negative emotional state, more pessimistic about whether they can win, and so are less willing to engage in future fights.

Andrew Crump, a postdoctoral researcher from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s, and lead author of the paper, said: ‘Human emotion influences unrelated cognition and behaviour. People rate their overall life satisfaction higher on sunny days than rainy days.

‘We have found that animals’ emotions also influence unrelated cognition and behaviour. For example, animals that won a contest experienced a more positive mood and expected fewer predators in their environment. Similarly, animals that lost a contest experienced negative emotions and took part in less future contests. These effects may lead to maladaptive behaviour.’

The research proposes this emotion theory may underpin all behaviour in animals – from signalling to mate choice and parental care.

Dr Gareth Arnott, the principal investigator on the paper, said: ‘Animal behaviour researchers typically do not currently consider animal emotions in their work. However, the results of this study show that this may need to be considered, as the role of animals’ emotion is crucial in relation to understanding their subsequent behaviour.

‘Understanding these emotions also has practical benefits for the future of animal welfare.’

The research findings have been published in the Proceedings Of The Royal Society journal.