Identifying social behavioral profile underlying prosocial actions in mice

An emerging body of scientific evidence strongly supports the notion of mice exhibiting prosocial actions, such as helping and rescuing behavior. However, prior studies have primarily focused on single or pair-housed animals, leaving a gap in our understanding of how social interactions contribute to the underlying mechanisms of helping behavior. To answer this question, we have built "mice cities" to observe the social structure of mice in a group. A male and a female group of ten animals, 5 siblings and 5 non-siblings each, were placed in a large enclosure of three interconnected boxes with enrichment, food and water ad libitum. We monitored initial group formation for two weeks, set a daily helping behavior task (HBT) for a week and kept observing social dynamics for an additional week. In the HBT, a victim from the group was placed in water behind a movable door that the rest of the group could interact with and learn to open. We dyed the fur in colored patterns for identification of the mice via machine learning, and analyzed position data and interactions to build behavioral profiles and describe the social structure of the group. Successful door openings were initiated by the same two/three individuals in the female/male group, respectively. We further observed differences in door interactions in general. Our ongoing work is aiming to investigate the influence of the longer-term relationship to the victim on prosocial behavior, and the impact of helping on these relationships.