My experience is mostly with domestic livestock (cattle, sheep, swine, horses, chickens, turkeys). Among these species, older animals, especially mammalian females, will protect young from predators. I have seen videos where many females in a herd of cattle will work together to keep bears from attacking a calf or weak calf. Hens will protect their chicks. I have not seen this type of behavior toward aged, older or dying mature animals. This behavior may be different than your interests, because the young are the future of the herd or flock, whereas the older animals represent the past.

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your response. At this stage every information is extremely helpful.

Wacław

Yes, I agree with Jack. The mothers are loving and caring than the fathers. There might have been the oestrogenic effect.

If you search on altruism and empathy in animals, you can probably find many examples. Most social animals are probably altruistic. For example, elephants are known for helping each other, and even rats have demonstrated empathy. Not all examples will be helping the injured, but I suspect such information will not be difficult to find.

I saw this phenomena in horse when several mares protect newborn injured foal

Dear Hayder, dear Wenseley,

Very thank you for your responses. Can you recommend any reading from the field, books, publications, especially research focusing on such animals' behavior?

Here's one book: http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781441995193. If you do a search, you can find many more. It's a well-researched area.

I agree those responses positive to your question. I have experience when I was in a slaughter house seeing that a herd of sheep waiting to be slaughtered were shed their tears when their companions were slaughtere. This may be another evidence to response your questio? Waclaw?

i agree with Jack Haiden Britt

My experience is mostly with domestic livestock (cattle, sheep, swine, horses, chickens, turkeys). Among these species, older animals, especially mammalian females, will protect young from predators. I have seen videos where many females in a herd of cattle will work together to keep bears from attacking a calf or weak calf. Hens will protect their chicks. I have not seen this type of behavior toward aged, older or dying mature animals. This behavior may be different than your interests, because the young are the future of the herd or flock, whereas the older animals represent the past.

i agree with Dhia Hussain

Apparent altruistic behaviour evidenced here in primates:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulg1Imcavew

Thank you for all of your responses. My question, however relates to something more than altruistic behavior.

Imagine a situation, in which an animal suffers and experiences "pain" (or other surrogate state instead of). Does this animal can use that behavior (lets call it and define it as a "suffering") to survive? Surviving can be reached by attention and care from others.

If yes, is this strategy used by animals and promoted thorough entire life and further inherited perhaps?

In other words, does suffering can be beneficial for an individual?

The behaviors of a suffering animal do indeed promote survival and are inherited. Usually, such behaviors promote recovery from whatever is causing the suffering. For example, sick animals are usually lethargic, which conserves energy that can help with fighting the infection. In some species, altruism has evolved and may help suffering individuals to survive, but altruism promotes survival of the species, not just the individual. Altruism might include helping individuals that are showing signs of suffering, but not necessarily. However, helping the young, which is mentioned by many above, is clearly a trait favored by evolution. Unlike adults, young animals that are suffering are often quite vocal in their distress, and adults often respond to such demonstrations.

I would not say that suffering is beneficial, but demonstrating suffering may or may not be beneficial. Prey species tend not to demonstrate suffering because doing so attracts predators. Predator species may or may not demonstrate suffering, and it often depends on the individual. With pet dogs, for example, demonstrating suffering is clearly beneficial, but some dogs are still stoical. I suspect that trait is heritable but I don't know if there are studies to that effect.

Also check out ben hart’s Early papers on sickness behavior and pillars of medicine.

This link is may be useful

https://www.vox.com/2015/12/14/9873012/wild-animals-suffering

Many thanks to all of you!

Every detail is extremely helpful.

Best wishes

Wacław

While herd animals can show what appears to be compassion, the cold-bloodedness of predators can be shocking. As predators are often solitary maybe that is the difference.

Dear Wacław, you may be interested in knowing that rodents show prosocial behavior towards conspecifics in pain or distress. You may find useful information in the following review, especially in the paragraph "Prosociality: helping others in distress":

Article Behavioral and Mechanistic Insight into Rodent Empathy

These are other two recent reviews:

Article What can rodents teach us about empathy?

Article Empathy for Distress in Humans and Rodents

Dear Raffaele, thank you a lot for your help on this. I was searching for some materials for the short review I was working on at that time. Now, I am thinking to refresh this topic. The papers you mentioned perfectly suit my need for "background".

There is some evidence that operant conditioning can play a role in the persistence of pain perception. So I might be wrong, but it does look like there are multiple pathways for pain chronification in humans, e.g.:

i.) via the fear-avoidance model (Vlaeyen & Linton, 2000)

ii.) via operant conditioning of pain (e.g. Jolliffee & NIcholas, 2004)

iii) what I am thinking now is some sort of human "pro-weak-like" behaviour such that humans are reinforced for being weak and sedentary, which indirectly leads to body deconditioning (fitness loss) as described in the fear-avoidance model.

Thanks,

Wacław

Dear Waclaw, conditioning can be used to modify a wide variety of behaviors. It depends on what you mean with "weak and sedentary", but, generally speaking, fear can surely be used to induce avoidance behavior.

Best,

Raffaele

Thank you Rafaele for your answer(s).

What I meant is that not necessary the pain itself is reinforced in some pain patients but the fact that they do not move, or do not show active participation in daily life. In the long run, this can lead to a vicious circle of chronic pain described e.g. in Vlaeyen & Linton (2000), where less fit subjects become more prone to injury.

Dear Wacław, I believe that fear-induced avoidance of voluntary physical activity may exist. In particular, avoidance can be of two types: passive or active. Passive avoidance consists in refraining from performing an action that leads to an aversive consequence. On the other hand, active avoidance consists in actively performing an action that interrupts or prevents an aversive consequence. The case you described, avoiding physical activity due to fear of pain, is passive avoidance. Below you can find a study on mice investigating this topic. Passive avoidance of voluntary physical activity (wheel running) was observed after conditioning, during which the action of running was associated with an aversive consequence (a brief electric shock lasting 0.5 seconds). Through a different protocol, active avoidance learning in the running wheel was also observed.

Running-wheel avoidance learning in mice (Mus musculus): Evidence of contingency learning and differences among inbred strains

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1991-26535-001

Best,

Raffaele

Thank you very much for your references, Raffaele.

What I was thinking about are circumstances wherein aversive consequences are not a leading force in behaviour change. Instead, "being not active" can be positively reinforced by help from others. So, let's say an organism is not moving because of extra benefits, e.g., the others (e.g. family members if we talk about humans) are performing activities instead of the patient.

Vatsi

Dear Wacław, I believe that this could happen in certain situations. However generally, when permanent disability is not present, family aid should be aimed not only at providing immediate care, but also at promoting functional recovery of the aided person.