[quote]roybot wrote:
[quote]Oleena wrote:
The researchers began their study by housing rats in pairs for two weeks, allowing the rodents to create a bond with one another. In each test session, they placed a rat pair into a walled arena; one rat was allowed to roam free while the other was locked in a closed, transparent tube that could only be opened from the outside.
The free rat was initially wary of the container in the middle of the arena, but once it got over the fear it picked up from its cage-mate, it slowly began to test out the cage. After an average seven days of daily experiments, the free rat learned it could release its friend by nudging the container door open. Over time, the rat began releasing its cage-mate almost immediately after being placed into the arena.
[/quote] They should add a third rat without the two-week bonding period and see what happens then…
[/quote]
Good idea. It might be interesting to then study the hormone response difference between the rats who’d had time to bond and those who didn’t.