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mneme
Rats have been extremely successful! They were around long before we were, and chances are pretty good they will still be around after we have collectively shuffled off this mortal coil...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 18, 2007 at 2:11 PM
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Nautikos
It looks like you really captured the imagination with this one - perhaps these kinds of studies were inevitable once the human genome project discovered we share something like 95% of genes with mice - or rats, probably. Scary...
posted by
mneme
on October 17, 2007 at 4:18 AM
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Krisles
That shrink was correct! Little kids are really monsters, and the only reason we like them is they look cute...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:58 PM
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Re: Maybe we are not as much like rats as we thought.
Whacky, some of us even less so...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:55 PM
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Re: how sad...
Well, celiaeli, we actually breed them by the thousands in our university labs...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:54 PM
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Wiley
No rats around at that time that I can remember...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:52 PM
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.Dave
all I can say is, a plague on the plague...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:50 PM
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Re: Re: Re: I kinda think empathy is learned.
Pat, I'm sure even among rats there's a limit to altruism...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:48 PM
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Good evening Offy hon
No rats today...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:46 PM
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Katz
Very often it's animals training us...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:44 PM
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Corbin
Those too...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:43 PM
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White
Well, if 'rat's ass' is no longer possible, you can always use the more stylish French version, 'rat's
derriere', or even
derriere du rat...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:41 PM
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Camera
They're so smart, they have out-witted many a psychology student...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 16, 2007 at 4:19 PM
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Nautikos
Fascinating.....I knew rats could be trained, but hadn't read about this. As far as empathy being learned, a shrink told me that most humans don't usually develop it until around age six....I found that quite interesting.....I'm still waiting for my 10 yo granddtr to develop it!
posted by
Krisles
on October 16, 2007 at 10:20 AM
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Maybe we are not as much like rats as we thought.
A smile
and few roses
from me and Bo =^..^= the wonder dog!
posted by
Whacky
on October 15, 2007 at 8:21 PM
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how sad...
that we try and kill off all the rats...
posted by
celiaeli
on October 15, 2007 at 7:06 PM
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NAUTIKOS
Rats, nobody dragged me any food but you did drag me to eat some food that there one time and I appreciated that old hoss.....
posted by
WileyJohn
on October 15, 2007 at 12:14 PM
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Yeah, but what about the plague....?
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on October 15, 2007 at 7:35 AM
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Re: Re: I kinda think empathy is learned.
There must be something behind that old saying -- the more I see of people the more I like my dog. To find empathy among rats is a bit of a surprise as you say. I think the survival instinct is in all critters, even us big two-leggeds... Would they share if they were hungry? Would we? If it's our offspring, we would. Otherwise?
posted by
Pat_B
on October 15, 2007 at 7:25 AM
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Good morning Naut...Hope you have a great day without rats..
posted by
Offy
on October 15, 2007 at 6:47 AM
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Yes, animals can be trained. We have tried that in the past with Chimpanzee, monkey,Dolphines, birds, dogs and now rats. But training human beings is a lot more difficult than training rats. They say 'old dogs can't learn new tricks'.
katzs
posted by
katzs
on October 15, 2007 at 5:15 AM
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Naut.....
You must be referring to the two legged variety of rats.......
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on October 15, 2007 at 3:28 AM
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Nautikos
erm hmmm
amazing stuff!
... is this the end of the term "
don't give a rat's ass" then???
Personally, I don't give a rat's ass about this study ~ I still don't like rats!!!
posted by
White_Elephant
on October 14, 2007 at 11:25 PM
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Nautikos
Rats can learn? Terrific to know this and I am surprised.
Good post,
Lou
posted by
Cameraeye
on October 14, 2007 at 8:26 PM
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Enigmatic
Well, I don't actually
like them either...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 7:19 PM
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Re: rats whether they be rodent or human get short shift from me!
Kabu, how many human rodents has she actually swallowed?
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 7:18 PM
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Sheilah
You
still don't, after all
this?
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 7:17 PM
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Justi
Well, it
is fairly recent...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 7:15 PM
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Soul
Thank you!
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 7:14 PM
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TAPS
Stick, finger - makes no difference...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 7:14 PM
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Naut
I don't like rats.
posted by
Enigmatic68
on October 14, 2007 at 4:31 PM
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rats whether they be rodent or human get short shift from me!
why do you think I loved my rodent eating python so much. Every rodent she swallowed, I cheered!
posted by
Kabu
on October 14, 2007 at 4:23 PM
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Interesting...
but I still don't like rats! LOL
posted by
Sheilah
on October 14, 2007 at 3:48 PM
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Nautikos
This is a very well written post but I think the study may be a bit new.
posted by
Justi
on October 14, 2007 at 12:24 PM
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Nautikos
Interesting!
posted by
Soul_Builder101
on October 14, 2007 at 11:09 AM
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Nautikos
It sounds like "Pull my finger" to me.
posted by
TAPS.
on October 14, 2007 at 10:59 AM
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Tattered
Thanks! Yes, it's quite interesting...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:39 AM
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Re: I kinda think empathy is learned.
That's the interesting thing, Pat. I am sure it's learned to a high degree, but we know that humans have at least an innate capacity for it, (some of us, anyway, lol). But to find a trace of it among animals is surprising.
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:38 AM
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nautikos
Cool!
posted by
Tattered_Knight
on October 14, 2007 at 10:31 AM
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rich
Thanks!
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:26 AM
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Good Afternoon again, Offy hon
That's it! Those damn rats were watching TV on the sly, and Oprah of all things! No wonder I don't ever watch her show, it's rat fare...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:25 AM
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OTA
I don't think they're trying to find 'why anyone would be kind to another human being', LOL. What they are trying to understand is under what conditions people tend to be kind to others, since that also helps us to understand under what conditions they're not...
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:21 AM
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Kayz
Thanks!
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:15 AM
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Ariala
Shocking, ain't it?
posted by
Nautikos
on October 14, 2007 at 10:08 AM
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I kinda think empathy is learned.
I don't know if rats can put themselves in another's place, but among humans it's a poor family that has no-one to set an example of kindness and walking a mile in another's shoes.
posted by
Pat_B
on October 14, 2007 at 10:02 AM
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nauts
interesting read.
posted by
richinstore
on October 14, 2007 at 9:16 AM
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Good morning Naut
Maybe they watched Oprah and learned about "Random Acts of Kindess"?????????
posted by
Offy
on October 14, 2007 at 9:08 AM
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Naut, It's interesting to me that scientists would try to figure out why anyone would be kind to another human being. Makes me wonder if anyone was kind to them as a child..
~Peace, OTA
posted by
Blue_feathers
on October 14, 2007 at 8:24 AM
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Nice bit of information, naut!
Go to my blog and read my poems.
posted by
Kayzzaman
on October 14, 2007 at 6:23 AM
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Nautikos,
posted by
Ariala
on October 14, 2007 at 6:09 AM
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