cooperatively

Seeking an answer, the research team from the Graduate School of Science at Osaka Metropolitan University took a look at a rather taciturn animal: fish, more specifically, Neolamprologus savoryi, a cooperatively breeding cichlid fish.

"Even though punishment in cooperatively breeding cichlid fish has been studied, there is limited evidence that they use punishment to encourage cooperative behavior," said Satoshi Awata, a professor at Osaka Metropolitan University and lead author of the study.

The three acted distinctly and cooperatively to coordinate a complicated immune response that calls on the rest of the immune system to effectively and efficiently rid the body of threats.

“And so really, it’s to manage the whole 3 million acres cooperatively and collaboratively and be more effective in conserving and recovering the desert tortoises, and that’s pretty much it,” he said.

These results align with a growing body of evidence suggesting that stressed individuals tend to act more cooperatively and generously, perhaps because people devote more of their cognitive resources towards deciding how to help the victim, rather than punishing the offender.