The Misunderstood Rat

A short, neat article, from the Physician's Commmittee for Responsible Medicine.

The Misunderstood Rat

by Jonathan Balcombe, Ph.D.

Rats are one of the world’s least understood creatures. Stigmatized as filthy “pests” for centuries, these inquisitive opportunists are actually naturally sociable and make excellent companions. New scientific studies show that there is more to rats than laboratory supply companies would have us believe.

Rats love to play, especially when young. During play, rats’ brains release large amounts of dopamine and opiates (in people, these chemicals are associated with pleasure and excitement).1 They chirp with apparent joy both during play and in anticipation of it,2 and one distinguished neuroscientist believes these chirps are a rat version of laughter.3

Rats are also tactile. They will nip gently to solicit tickles and strokes from trusted human companions.2 In a carefully controlled laboratory study at Bowling Green State University, rats accustomed to tickling ran to the hand four times as quickly as did petted rats and made seven times more chirps. The difference increased over the five-day period, suggesting a growing enthusiasm for being tickled.4 In the same study, each rat was presented with two metal bars, only one of which offered a tickling reward when pressed. The animals pressed the tickle bar repeatedly, but almost never pressed the other bar.4

Rats also play fair. When researchers at the University of Lethbridge analyzed video footage of playing rats, they found that individuals assess and monitor one another, then fine-tune their own behavior to maintain the play mood.5 Playing rats restrain themselves when they know their actions would cause pain to another individual.6 The cooperation and fairness required of play may form the basis for a sense of right and wrong and the rudiments of moral behavior.7

Like humans, rats appreciate variety in their food. A 2003 study found that rats (and hamsters) favored new foods following several days’ exposure to a single food.8 Rats will also enter a deadly cold room to retrieve highly palatable food, even though their regular chow (which is dry and monotonous) is available in their cozy nests.9 This is a rodent version of shunning the fruit bowl and dashing out for donuts on a wintry night.

These studies show that rats are not as different from us as some might think. Not only do they try to avoid painful or stressful situations, they seek out pleasurable ones. They look forward to a good game, they obey rat rules of social conduct, and they have preferences. These traits constitute more reasons why these sensitive, intelligent animals should not be subjected to harmful experiments.


References:

1 Panksepp, J. 1998. Affective Neuroscience. Oxford University Press.

2 Knutson B, Burgdorf J, Panksepp J. 1998. Anticipation of play elicits high-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations in young rats. Journal of Comparative Psychology 112: 65-73.

3 Panksepp J, Burgdorf J. 2003. “Laughing” rats and the evolutionary antecedents of human joy? Physiology & Behavior 79: 533-47.

4 Burgdorf J, Panksepp J. 2001. Tickling induces reward in adolescent rats. Physiology & Behavior 72: 167-173.

5 Pellis S. 2002. Keeping in touch: Play fighting and social knowledge. In Bekoff M, Allen C, and Burghardt GM (eds.) 2002. The Cognitive Animal Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

6 Church F. 1959. Emotional reactions of rats to the pain of others. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 52: 132-134.

7 Bekoff, M. Wild justice, cooperation, and fair play: Minding manners, being nice, and feeling good. In R. Sussman and A. Chapman (eds.) The Origins and Nature of Sociality. Aldine, Chicago. pp. 53-79.

8 Galef BG Jr, Whiskin EE. 2003. Preference for novel flavors in adult Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 117: 96-100.

9 Phillips H. 2003. The pleasure seekers. New Scientist October 11: 36-40.

Pilates 4 U?

Hurry! Bookings Essential!

Summer afternoon

Totally awesome cockatoo

Oh yeah!

Art

This painting by Josh Keyes



is SO COOL.

Random conversation

(Whilst supervising Beanie during run-around time yesterday.)

Bear: Beanie's getting big...

Syn: Yeah! Beanster! Beeeeeanz.

Bear: ...

Bear: No, you know what? He *is* big.

Syn: ...

Syn: No more chocolate cake for Beanie.

Bear: No.

Beanie: !@#$$!

A happy meal

I was looking at Not Quite Nigella's entry on Una's in Double Bay and it reminded me of one of my happiest meals, at Una's on Broadway. The thing is, the food wasn't all that good even. It was just such an unexpected meal, and soooo welcome and warm, that it makes me smile on the inside to think about it.

I say that it was unexpected primarily because we were supposed to be up in an airplane at that time, heading for Bangkok, en route to London, except that we only had lowly staff travel tickets and had spent the entire morning and afternoon waiting at the airport, before we were bumped off the last flight. Well not technically, technically they told us we could probably get to Bangkok but then would be stranded there at midnight and we decided we'd much rather spend the night at home than in some strange hotel in Bangkok, nice as it is, I'm sure.

So we went home, which was really only a little bit less strange than some random Thai hotel, because we'd pretty much just moved in. Everything was in boxes, everywhere where helpful friends and family had stacked them. The bed was made up, but we had to dig up some shampoo and spare towels, put our airplane clothes aside and find something to wear, because we had to go out and find the internet so that we could re-list ourselves on the next day's flights and book some back-up tickets via the US in case all the flights were full again.

So that's how we found ourselves in Broadway, which is where my office is (and I managed to get in a last minute report too, woohoo), and then at Una's, which was warm brown and cosy, an absolute treat because it was shit cold and freezing out, and because we were tired to our bones.

And we had rosti and schnitzel and sauerkraut and ginger beer, and we ate and stuffed ourselves and giggled and it was so good because we were warm and full and relaxed and could go home and sleep in our bed. The next day, we got on a plane to London, via Tokyo instead, on the longest most tortuous journey Ever. But that is another story, a long and tortuous one that I don't think anyone really wants to hear about and also Bear says I should go to bed soon.

Goodnight!