While some species of rodents may be scary to some people and have a bad reputation, rats are very intelligent and make great pets if cared for properly. Rats are naturally curious, have good memories and are easy to learn. By understanding how smart a rat is, you can more fully appreciate these tiny rodents, keep them safe, and give them the mental stimulation they need.
Why are rats so smart?
Rats are so smart because of their brains. Rats and humans have more similarities than differences. We often suffer from the same diseases due to similar physiology. This is partly why scientists use them for drug testing.
When it comes to the brain, neuroscientists have learned that the rat brain is actually very similar to ours. For example, there are countless similarities between the rat motor cortex and the human brain.
Amazingly, the rats are winning on this front. Our brains rely entirely on visual information, whereas rats use key sensorimotor information from their whiskers.
Intelligence level
For many years, scientists around the world have been studying the intelligence of rats. It is now known for certain that the cognitive abilities of these cute rodents are at a very high level. It is not without reason that all attempts by a person to fight pasyuki do not have the desired result. Rodents are very cunning and are also able to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions.
In addition, rats are social animals. They live in organized flocks, within which a clear hierarchy is established. All members of a large rat family are similar to humans in many ways:
- capable of empathy;
- support each other;
- care for sick individuals;
- signal to relatives about approaching danger;
- in the cold season they sleep tightly huddled together;
- engaged in grooming.
It is worth noting that in the animal world, female rats are considered one of the most caring mothers. They feed baby rats with breast milk until they become independent, do not allow strangers near the nest, and devote a lot of time to training the younger generation.
The high level of intelligence of rats is evidenced by their habit of always trying food of unknown origin in minute quantities per tooth. This is how the animals try to protect themselves from eating poisoned food.
What can rats do?
- Learning ability
In nature, a rat's survival largely depends on its ability to learn. Rats must resist everything nature puts them against. Finding food and avoiding being hunted or captured is a difficult task for them.
There are many laboratory studies in which researchers have been able to teach rats to press a button to get food. If they grab the food every fourth time they push it, they start pushing it very quickly four times to get it.
In addition to this, similar studies have shown that they can learn to turn lights on and off without even needing a reward. They may do this simply because they like change. Some researchers believe their reward here is a feeling of being in control.
- Rats can learn tricks
Pet rats are very playful and cute. Just like with a dog, you can teach your rat tricks. You can even teach her to respond to her own name! The rat may learn to sit, search, or jump through a hoop.
You can also teach your rat to solve puzzles, run through mazes, and do a million other tricks. It's actually quite easy to train because it responds well to food rewards. There are tons of videos online that will show you step by step how to do this.
- Tiny Heroes
The combination of a rat's desire to please people and their keen sense of smell and hearing allows them to be trained to detect landmines and bombs.
They can also learn to avoid certain types of rat poison. Rats can even learn how to make mousetraps go off without getting trapped, or how to free themselves or another rat from a trap.
- Rats can sense people
Pet rats are so intelligent that they can use their enhanced sense of smell to sense people around them! They also recognize and remember special people. Even wild rats will remember you if you meet by chance a couple of times.
Pet rats can't see as well as we can, so they use their senses of smell and hearing to sense when their owner is nearby. Pets can still see some dull colors, but they are just much more washed out. They will also use their whiskers to sense their surroundings and better create a three-dimensional plane in their brain. Rodents even use their whiskers to communicate with each other!
Sometimes they get distracted while cleaning or don't hear you come in. This means that they feel comfortable when their owner is around, rather than constantly checking for “danger.”
Taming Ability
Smart rats are very easy to tame. It's hard to believe, but they don't like being alone. The wild animal is reluctant to make contact, but over time it quickly gets used to the person and literally follows on his heels.
Taming must be handled responsibly. There is no need to rush, as psychological pressure on an intelligent animal can provoke stress and other health problems.
First, the animal needs to create a secret corner in the cage so that it can hide if it wants. And it is better to place the house in a place where he can often see people. This way the taming process will go faster.
At first, you should not touch the rodent with your hands. He must get used to the owner and show a desire to make contact. You can talk to him and treat him with treats. Once your smart pet gets used to it, you can play with it or train it.
Types of the smartest breeds
In the wild, a rat has one body shape, one type of fur, and mostly one color. However, genetic mutations occurred naturally in the domestic animal population and were then selected and bred for them. As a result, pet rats now come in a wide range of coat colors and textures, as well as two ear positions. However, they are all still the same species and can interbreed, but they have different appearances.
The word variety can be used in different ways in the rat world:
- this may refer to whether the coat is smooth or curly,
- what shape are the ears?
- or what color the wool is.
As a result, all rats come from more than one variety - for example, you might have a rex (fur type), a dumbo (ear type), a black (color), and a hooded (marking). The appearance of a rodent does not affect its intelligence in any way.
Rats' mental abilities are not related to fur texture or color, ear shape, or body size. They depend on the nature of a particular rodent. However, there is a theory that females are smarter than males.
Interesting facts about the mental abilities of rodents
Scientists have concluded that rats have a collective mindset. They were able to discover other amazing mental abilities:
- They easily remember any route by which they get to the object they need, and can even determine the most optimal one.
- The animal knows how to identify danger and use for its own purposes the experience that has been accumulated by representatives of its group. If a rat tastes poison and dies, then not a single member of the pack will touch it. The same goes for traps and other items that pose a danger.
- If you tickle an animal, it will react in exactly the same way as a person - it will start laughing. And when, for example, a female’s children are taken away, she begins to make sounds similar to human crying.
- Rodents are characterized by self-sacrifice. Scientists conducted an experiment. They placed two rodents in a cage and placed a glass partition between them. There was food on one half, but as soon as the rat touched it, its relative was shocked. In this situation, the intelligent animal completely refused to eat in order to protect the other.
- Rats are able to communicate with each other using sounds that have a specific meaning. A person cannot catch them, since the frequency of their range is different from ours.
We won't show you scary rats. Only pretty ones.
Better than a dog: the smartest breeds of rats
The coming 2020 is the year of the White Rat . This is the time to get a new pet that takes up little space, but brings a lot of positive emotions and can become your best friend.
We are not hinting at anything, but it is better to start making friends with smart breeds of rats than one day discovering your friend is a smart rat.
We have collected some interesting facts about rats, which can be considered the smartest animals. It’s not for nothing that they most often pass difficult tests, well.
We have left the photos below. You never know, you are impressionable.
The smartest breeds of rats
- Dumbo rat breeds
The Dumbo rat breed is considered one of the youngest breeds. Dumbo rats are named after the cartoon elephant Dumbo. These rodents have large ears and soft fur. Rats were bred in California in 1991.
- Decorative smart rats
Decorative rats most often become part of the family. This is a domesticated species of gray rat that becomes a human companion for life. A rat's life, of course. If you want to feel like Ron from Harry Potter, get a decorative rat. They are very smart and calm.
- Double Rex breed: smart rats
The Double Rex breed is somewhat exotic: these smart rats shed often, and their fur does not cover their entire body. The hairs of these rats curl in a spiral, but such animals look very cute and defenseless.
- Satin Rat
Satin rats are perhaps the cutest animals of their kind. Their fur shines like a glossy coating. Everyone who has managed to get to know the breed better would like to have such a beauty.
- Tailless rats
Collective intelligence and self-sacrifice
Rats not only caught up with humans in their development, but also began to outstrip him. Their populations have a collective field intelligence that guides the actions of the animals. Thanks to this intelligence, they can easily recognize new types of traps. In addition, where necessary, they make self-sacrifice for the sake of their fellow tribesmen. Until recently, it was believed that this was only possible in humans!
Rats are also capable of living in conditions that we call extreme. They are not afraid not only of high and low temperatures, but also of increased levels of radiation. They were able to develop the Pacific island of Engibi, where French scientists and military personnel conducted nuclear tests for several years. Every living thing there was destroyed! Except for the rats.
How many chromosomes does a rat have
In terms of their genome, rats really resemble humans. Geneticists view rodents and primates as close relatives, which is confirmed by paleontology. A detailed comparison showed that humans and rats have 80% identical genes.
Perhaps it is the number of chromosomes that gives them their exceptional mental abilities, although from a scientific point of view this phenomenon is not surprising. It is known that all mammals, including humans, descend from small lizards - Theriodonts. Rodents and primates split into separate branches about 30 million years ago, but there are still many common features between them.
Chromosome set
The rat genome is extremely similar to the human genome. Paleontological evidence places great apes and rats among our close relatives. We share 80% of our genome with rodents.
Perhaps it is precisely this set of chromosomes that gives rodents outstanding intellectual abilities. All mammals - including rats and ourselves - owe their origin to the ancient Theriodont lizards. The evolutionary separation of the primate and rodent lineages occurred 30 million years ago, but their striking similarities, of course, remain.
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Before execution
Already in Nizhnevartovsk, working with the diaries of political prisoner Mark Ivanovich Klabukov, I came across an episode telling how a certain Kostya Maslov, sentenced to death, spent more than a month on death row, waiting every day for the execution of the sentence. Kostya told a semi-mystical story about these days.
“The day after the verdict was pronounced,” Kostya said, “a rat appeared in the cell. I couldn’t eat anything and so I gave all my food to her. She got used to it and stopped being afraid of me. I waited from hour to hour for the execution of the sentence and hardly slept, especially at night, endlessly walked around the cell or lay in some kind of sensitive semi-oblivion. A month passed like this. And then one day, when I was in this strange half-asleep, the rat appeared again at night and immediately jumped onto my bed. She ran all over me and squeaked excitedly all the time. Her squeak sounded either sad or joyful - I still couldn’t understand what exactly. After spinning like this for a minute or two, she ran away. “Today I will be shot, and the rat came running to say goodbye to me,” I thought. And indeed, a little time passed when loud footsteps were heard in the corridor. The key rattled in the lock, and four guards appeared on the threshold of the cell. “Get your things,” one of them ordered. Two took my hands, the third walked in front, the fourth - behind. I was in some kind of split state; it seemed to me that they were not leading me, but someone else. And I even saw from the side how they were leading him.
Finally, they led me into an office building and then they announced that Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, by personal order, replaced my execution with ten years in prison. I collapsed on the floor." It turns out that the rat somehow incomprehensibly learned that Kostya was no longer in danger of death, and tried to convey this good news to him! And not only. She made it clear to the man that she was sad to part with him.
Little telepaths
I'm not exaggerating. The rat is an incredibly smart animal, moreover, rats have supersensitive abilities! Everyone knows that if ship rats leave the ship, then it is doomed. And they begin to flee from it while still in the port, when, it would seem, nothing threatens the ship: it is in good working order, strong enough, it has an experienced captain and a reliable crew. Perhaps the only ship from which the rats did not have to escape is the Titanic. They just didn’t have time to start there!
Rats are able not only to “look” beyond the horizon and see the future. They also have other wonderful abilities. On Sakhalin, two white rats, Mishka and Mashka, lived in my makeshift house for about a year. So, when I called Mashka, only Mashka jumped out of the house, and when Mishka, only he jumped out, Mashka did not react at all, although “Mishka” and “Mashka” sound almost indistinguishable. One day I tried to slightly modify their nicknames. Instead of Mishka or Mashka he said Mishk, Mashk or Mish, Mash. But they were never deceived. Then, in the heat of the moment, I mentally shouted: “Masha!” - and immediately Masha’s mustachioed face appeared from the house! I felt uneasy.
We won't show you scary rats. Only pretty ones.
Better than a dog: the smartest breeds of rats
The coming 2020 is the year of the White Rat . This is the time to get a new pet that takes up little space, but brings a lot of positive emotions and can become your best friend.
We are not hinting at anything, but it is better to start making friends with smart breeds of rats than one day discovering your friend is a smart rat.
We have collected some interesting facts about rats, which can be considered the smartest animals. It’s not for nothing that they most often pass difficult tests, well.
We have left the photos below. You never know, you are impressionable.
The smartest breeds of rats
- Dumbo rat breeds
The Dumbo rat breed is considered one of the youngest breeds. Dumbo rats are named after the cartoon elephant Dumbo. These rodents have large ears and soft fur. Rats were bred in California in 1991.
- Decorative smart rats
Decorative rats most often become part of the family. This is a domesticated species of gray rat that becomes a human companion for life. A rat's life, of course. If you want to feel like Ron from Harry Potter, get a decorative rat. They are very smart and calm.
- Double Rex breed: smart rats
The Double Rex breed is somewhat exotic: these smart rats shed often, and their fur does not cover their entire body.
- Satin Rat
Satin rats are perhaps the cutest animals of their kind. Their fur shines like a glossy coating. Everyone who has managed to get to know the breed better would like to have such a beauty.
- Tailless rats
Tailless rats are also very smart and not at all defective. Many rat owners are a little embarrassed by the length of the animal's tail and it does not seem aesthetically pleasing to anyone. But even for such people, a separate breed was bred - tailless rats.
Very unattractive animals (in our opinion). But lack of fur doesn't make them any less smart. It’s just that such a beauty needs a special fur bedding in a cage.
Double Rex breed: smart rats Decorative smart rats Bald rats
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