Rats are nice animals

Study shows rats would rather help a friend than eat chocolate I have had numerous pet rats, mostly taken home from labs I have worked at, and they are one of the nicest animals you would ever want to meet.

In an experiment carried out by University of Chicago neuroscientists, pairs of rats that normally shared a cage were placed in a special area, where one was confined to a closed tube with a door that could be opened from the outside while the other remained able to roam around freely. The researchers observed that “the free rat acted more agitated when its cagemate was restrained, compared to its activity when the rat was placed in a cage with an empty restrainer.”

This kind of “emotional contagion” had been observed previously in tats — but what happened next was more unexpected. As described by Science Daily, “After several daily restraint sessions, the free rat learned how to open the restrainer door and free its cagemate. Though slow to act at first, once the rat discovered the ability to free its companion, it would take action almost immediately upon placement in the test arena.”