Rodents exhibit empathy by setting trapped friends free

[n2doc]

By Laura Sanders

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.

more

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336819/title/He’s_no_rat%2C_he’s_my_brother

[noamnety]

1. This doesn't surprise me at all.

A couple years ago, we had raccoons move into our attic. We had a pest control set up some (no kill) traps. A squirrel got into one that was at the base of the house. I wouldn't have known except a frantic fellow squirrel was acting psychotic, banging against my sliding glass doors, glaring at me while I was in the living room, and acting generally insane. It took me a a couple hours of just wondering wtf his problem was, but I finally realized the problem and we let the other squirrel out of the trap. He was not gonna just let it go.

[Voice for Peace]

9. you have to be careful with the no-kill traps [warning, a grim tale]

Some friends were using "have a heart" no-kill mouse traps.

It had caught a couple of cute little mice, but the people forgot to have a heart and check the trap. The mice slowly starved to death, one was half-eaten when they were finally remembered.

[noamnety]

10. Ours were a little difficult to miss

(good warning on your part though for folks dealing with smaller critters)

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[Ian David]

3. Their sense of morality must derive from Rat Jesus. n/t

[im1013]

4. .

:spray:

[silverweb]

5. New proof.

That reTHUGs are lower than rodents.

[n2doc]

6. Any pet rat owner could tell you that

I really can't think of ANY animal that is lower than a modern Republican/ TP'er.

[silverweb]

11. Agreed.

I have cats, so have never had a rat as a pet. That said, I've had the pleasure of knowing 2 pet rats belonging to other people, and am a great admirer of their intelligence and friendliness. Today's reTHUGs could never compare.

As for any creature being lower... I might consider fleas. Maybe. :D

[Marnie]

7. What does that say about the Republicans who hate

empathy.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

8. In 1902, Peter Kropotkin did research of all animals including humans ...

... and came up with the conclusion that societies that cooperated tended to fare better than those that competed. Even species that cooperated and coexisted with other species or even completely different animals altogether fare better.

His work is entitled Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Online book)

Wiki article here:

[TheMadMonk]

12. Ah, but only in a competitive society, can the INDIVIDUAL excel.

That said, affirmation is not cooperative. It is merely anti-competetive.

The trick is finding the correct ballance between cooperation and competition. Because without that competition, we'd still be carrion eaters, and not having this debate at all.