Did you know that...
... Rats resemble 1.5 year old nonverbal toddlers... Treat them as such, and you'll discover a lot - both about kids and about rats!
... Rats get attached to their master? When adopting an adult rat, be sure to be respectful, firm, and patient...
... Rats are capable to make relatively complex associations, and they have good memory. I've experienced both fascination with their shrewdness, and frustration with their lack of compliance... Sounds like children, does it not?
... Rats have very fast metabolism... If they get sick, the process is very quick. Keep necessary medicine handy - you may need it when all offices are closed.
OSED Goblin
... Rats appreciate classical music!
Neurol Res 1998 Jul;20(5):427-32
Improved maze learning through early music exposure in rats.
Rauscher FH, Robinson KD, Jens JJ.
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh 54901, USA.
"Rats were exposed in utero plus 60 days post-partum to either complex music (Mozart Sonata
(k. 448)), minimalist music (a Philip Glass composition), white noise or silence, and were then
tested for five days, three trials per day, in a multiple T-maze. By Day 3, the rats exposed to the
Mozart work completed the maze more rapidly and with fewer errors than the rats assigned to
the other groups. The difference increased in magnitude through Day 5. This suggests that
repeated exposure to complex music induces improved spatial-temporal learning in rats,
resembling results found in humans. Taken together with studies of enrichment-induced neural
plasticity, these results suggest a similar neurophysiological mechanism for the effects of music on
spatial learning in rats and humans."
