phyrex1an
Staff Member and irregular helper
- Reaction score
- 447
Calling someone a rat should no longer be considered an insult. The often maligned rodents go out of their way to liberate a trapped friend, a gregarious display that’s driven by empathy, researchers conclude in the Dec. 9 Science.
“As humans, we tend sometimes to have this feeling that there’s something special about our morals,” says neuroscientist Christian Keysers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, who was not involved in the study. “It seems that even rats have this urge to help.”
As many pet rat owners know, rats are highly social animals, says study coauthor Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, a psychologist at the University of Chicago. Bartal and colleagues wanted to see whether rats would take action to ease the suffering of a cage mate. The team put one rat inside a clear cage that could be sprung from the outside, and left another rat to roam free outside the cage for an hour at a time.
Initially, the free rat would circle the cage, digging and biting at it. After about seven days of encountering its trapped friend, the roaming rat learned how to open the cage and liberate the trapped rat. “It’s very obvious that it is intentional,” Bartal says. “They walk right up to the door and open the door.” The liberation is followed by a frenzy of excited running.
news.uchicago.edu
“As humans, we tend sometimes to have this feeling that there’s something special about our morals,” says neuroscientist Christian Keysers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, who was not involved in the study. “It seems that even rats have this urge to help.”
As many pet rat owners know, rats are highly social animals, says study coauthor Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, a psychologist at the University of Chicago. Bartal and colleagues wanted to see whether rats would take action to ease the suffering of a cage mate. The team put one rat inside a clear cage that could be sprung from the outside, and left another rat to roam free outside the cage for an hour at a time.
Initially, the free rat would circle the cage, digging and biting at it. After about seven days of encountering its trapped friend, the roaming rat learned how to open the cage and liberate the trapped rat. “It’s very obvious that it is intentional,” Bartal says. “They walk right up to the door and open the door.” The liberation is followed by a frenzy of excited running.
Helping your fellow rat: Rodents show empathy-driven behavior
Rats free trapped companions, even when given choice of chocolate instead
Last edited by a moderator:
