New research suggests that our ability to care about others may have very ancient origins. Before fish and mammals split up in the tree of life, it may have been rooted in prehistoric animals that lived 450 million years ago, according to scientists from Portugal’s Gulbenkian Institute of Science.

what is known

The study shows that fish can recognize the fear of other fish and then get scared. This ability is regulated by oxytocin, the same brain chemical that underlies empathy in humans.

• The researchers demonstrated this by deleting genes associated with oxytocin production and uptake in zebrafish brains.
• These fish have become antisocial – they were unable to change their behavior when other fish were worried and often realized that something was wrong.
• But when some of these fish were injected with oxytocin, their ability to sense and reflect the emotions of other fish was restored.

They react to the fact that others are afraid. In this context, they behave just like us,
— says neuroscientist Ibukun Akinrinade of the University of Calgary, one of the study’s authors.

The research also Danios paid more attention to people who had experienced stress before. – a behavior that researchers compare with their comfort.

Previous studies have shown that oxytocin plays a similar role in mice.