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Nature 419, 893-894 (31 October 2002) | doi:10.1038/419893a

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Neurobiology: Social eating for stress

Marla B. Sokolowski

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One type of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans feeds alone, another in aggregates. The neurobiological underpinnings of these behaviours are now being revealed at the molecular level.

Behavioural ecologists have shown that many animals form social groups in response to stressful environmental conditions. Neurobiological evidence for this behaviour has now been discovered in the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans.