Study finds that rats have compassion for each other

[12voltman59]

Thought this was an interesting news story making the rounds today: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/If-someone-calls-you-a-rat-take-it-as-a-compliment

Guess we will have to come up with another insult than to call someone "a dirty rat!"

It seems that as we find that rats have compassion for one another----so many human beings are seeming to have lost that capacity----at least losing compassion for those facing hard times or are a few steps down from us on the economic ladder!!!

[æonpax]

Thought this was an interesting news story making the rounds today: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/If-someone-calls-you-a-rat-take-it-as-a-compliment
Guess we will have to come up with another insult than to call someone "a dirty rat!"
It seems that as we find that rats have compassion for one another----so many human beings are seeming to have lost that capacity----at least losing compassion for those facing hard times or are a few steps down from us on the economic ladder!!!

After watching two GOP debates where people were cheering executions and and allowing uninsured people to die, I daresay the rats appear to be the more human and compassionate of the two.

[keefer201]

After watching two GOP debates where people were cheering executions and and allowing uninsured people to die, I daresay the rats appear to be the more human and compassionate of the two.

You're an ascerbic bitch. Rats can have all the compassion they want for each other, I'll still poison them any chance I get.

[tenni]

I suppose that this is possible. A rat may figure out how to release another rat(mate?) I find some of the extrapolations by this Peggy Mason a bit much (scientifically) if she was quoted properly. "almost as if serving them chocolate" being one unsubstantiated extrapolation.

I know that I spent three frik'n month daily putting "our rat" through a maze study before we were permitted to check the journals in uni. Our rat failed to learn to seek a reward by following a maze to find food (with visual cues to guide the rat). Rats at that time were only reported to be able to perceive certain shapes. They didn't see other shapes and could not use the cues.

Now to expect a rat to figure out how to release the captured rat on their own may be true but seems a bit unusual to me?

Cute story though.

[lizard-lix]

You're an ascerbic bitch. Rats can have all the compassion they want for each other, I'll still poison them any chance I get.

Trying out for GOP candidate?

[Canticle]

It doesn't surprise me that a rat should be able to show compassion. Rodents are highly intelligent animals and do learn very quickly. Of course, as with humans, some rodents will be more intelligent than others. So, tenni, that would explain your rather dim rat, at uni. I have kept guinea pigs, for many years. Some have been incredibly intelligent, while others have been remarkably stupid, with most fitting somewhere inbetween. Guinea pigs are gregarious little creatures and must have company, be it another guinea pig, or a rabbit, as a friend. If a companion dies, another must be found, for they do, indeed, grieve. I believe that animals are capable of great love for one another, also and I have witnessed this many times. Having said all this, when my guinea pigs lived outside, any visiting rodents, in the guise of field mice, had to be got rid of, because of the risk of disease. Never a nice thing, to have to do, but a necessary one. We have a gerbil, also...and she is as bright as a finely polished button.....but too quick a mover for my liking.

[tenni]

Well, the majority of rats failed the visual test due to the factors that prevented them from perceiving certain shapes. If the cage of the rat required only some pressure on it to release the other rat, it might work. I'm thinking that whoever decided on the S&M device:tong: on the rat had it figured out what a rat is capable of determining. They did not use any previously discovered limitations of the rat. I had a rat as a child. I liked it but it wasn't a dog....lol or even a cat. I'm not sure about guinea pigs. I'll take your word on that Canticle.:bigrin:

[Gearbox]

Maybe the 'compassionate' rats were just inquisitive?


We have a gerbil, also...and she is as bright as a finely polished button.....but too quick a mover for my liking.
Tie string to it's back legs! You never know where those little buggers might end up!:eek:

[darkeyes]

You're an ascerbic bitch. Rats can have all the compassion they want for each other, I'll still poison them any chance I get.

Yas ver fond of the lady pooch word aintcha, Keefer babes? Isnt nice u kno...:)

[void()]

He eats female wolves?

[mikey3000]

I'll bet rats have more compassion for eachother than humans do. Now if some freaky scientist can figure out how to measure it, that would be a point to debate upon.

[jem_is_bi]

I often work with rats (for scientific purposes). They are not nasty animals.

[keefer201]

Trying out for GOP candidate?

LOL, I would be right at home in Texas; not here in the bastion of liberalism.