Do goats exhibit prosocial motivation? Insights from a novel food-giving paradigm

Research on prosociality in animals has largely focused on a few model species and a limited range of experimental paradigms. To expand this scope, we developed an ecologically relevant food-giving paradigm, the Fake Apple Tree, designed to assess prosocial motivation in goats (Capra hircus) by stimulating their natural climbing behaviour. In this set-up, when a 'donor' goat stepped onto a platform attached to a pivoting arm, the arm lowered a food dispenser within reach of conspecific 'recipients', while the donor itself could not access the reward. Ten out of twelve goats spontaneously learned to operate the device. In dyadic trials, goats interacted with the Fake Apple Tree more frequently when the food dispenser was active compared to control sessions where no food was provided. The frequency of interactions remained stable across test sessions. We classified platform interactions as prosocial if the donor left without approaching the food dispenser and selfish if it attempted to access the food afterwards. Consistent with findings in primates, prosocial interactions were significantly longer than selfish ones. Our results provide insights into potential prosocial tendencies in goats and highlight the utility of ecologically relevant paradigms in studying cooperative behaviours in ungulates.