Rats are extremely smart and empathetic Many people don't think of rats as being smart, but they are actually very intelligent and easy to train. They are more intelligent than rabbits, gerbils, and guinea pigs. Their intelligence is why rats are so often used in psychological studies to help understand human behavior.
Rat Fact - The average IQ of a rat is 105.
Rodents are clever animals, but the squirrel tops the list for intelligence. Although a mouse or rat can outmaneuver and sometimes outsmart a pursuing human, squirrel's agility and intelligence give them an advantage over other predators and larger creatures.
Even though the rat brain is smaller and less complex than the human brain, research has shown that the two are remarkably similar in structure and function. Both consist of a vast amount of highly connected neurons that are constantly talking to each other.
It's the first time scientists have found direct reciprocation in the animal kingdom. Rats can remember acts of kindness by other rats—and treat them accordingly, a new study says.
In a study involving hundreds of rats, investigators found strong evidence of animal empathy. They found that a free-roaming rat will usually rescue a trapped rat, apparently motivated by empathy.
CHIMPANZEES. RECKONED to be the most-intelligent animals on the planet, chimps can manipulate the environment and their surroundings to help themselves and their community.
Dolphins are well known to be one of the most intelligent species on the planet. They are highly capable of both learning and mimicry.
According to The Intelligence of Dogs, which ranks 131 dog breeds in terms of their relative intelligence, the border collie is the smartest dog breed known to man.
They can only see a few feet at best and are relatively nearsighted critters, so if your pet rat is not reacting to your presence across a large room, it is because they cannot see you. This doesn't indicate they are losing their vision; it just was not that good, to begin with.
Neuroscientists in Barcelona report that rats, like humans (newborn and adult) and Tamarin monkeys, can extract regular patterns in language from speech (prosodic) cues.
Dolphins cheat
Dolphins are often cited as the second smartest animals on Earth due to their relatively high brain-to-body size ratio, the capacity to show emotion, and impressive mimicry of the dumb apes who research them.
Rat Are Social Animals
2 They become attached to other rats and recognize their own family members but rats also easily bond with their human owners and make for affectionate pets. Pet rats enjoy being stroked by their owners and sometimes even enjoy a gentle massage, a scratch behind the ears, or a simple tickle.
Fact #2: Rats love to be petted in certain spots.
Your rat probably likes having the top of his head stroked and gently scratched. He also appreciates it if you pet him along his back, from his neck to about the middle -- the area closest to the tail can be sensitive. Rats usually enjoy having their ears rubbed.
Many people own and enjoy pet rats. However, pet rats, even when they look clean and healthy, can carry germs that can make people sick. A clean environment will help reduce the chance of the rat becoming sick and spreading germs to humans. Taking proper care of your animal is important to your own safety.
#3: Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees are very smart animals and are able to solve many different problems posed to them by human trainers and experimenters. Our closest genetic relative comes in third place on this list of the most intelligent animals.
eLife digest
The human brain is about three times as big as the brain of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee.
There are several possible answers to this question as different animals display varying levels of intelligence. However, some experts suggest that the animal with the lowest IQ is the sloth.
Cats have a 200 times stronger memory than dogs and can recall the details of a day for up to 16 hours. Although dogs may be better at helping people, cats have much more sophisticated brains. Dogs only have 160 neurons in their brains compared to cats' 300 neurons, making them one of the smartest animals in the World.
Chimpanzees. As our closest living relatives, chimpanzees have unsurprisingly shown themselves to be exceptionally intelligent. They also have impressive short-term memories – better than our own. Chimps can remember the location of numbers flashed before them for a fraction of a second.
So, for example, from the human audiogram you can see that people hear pretty well at 1,000Hz; here, the threshold of hearing is a scant 2 decibels. For rats, however, the threshold is more like 24dB. That means that a 20dB sound at 1,000Hz would be easily audible to you but would be entirely inaudible to the rodent.
Excited rats may also jump, hop, or “popcorn” when they are happy. They may run excitedly at full speed around the house or enclosure—just like how dogs get the “zoomies.”
The best way to tell if a rat's happy, according to a new study, is to look at its ears. A happy rat's ears hang relaxed to the sides (right), instead of perked up (left). Please be respectful of copyright.