How smart are rats?

Just like mice, rats are special and intelligent animals, they seem to understand concepts more quickly than many other animals .they may seem to be smaller in size but they can reason their way out of a bad situation. Rats can be smarter than humans, and this explains why they often avoid traps , repellents and even their common predators. Rats are known to display emotions similar to those of humans, for instance, they do feel lonely, depressed, stressed and anxious. Studies have even shown that rats can feel regret over opportunities they missed.



Rats are also smart because they are extremely social, they easily communicate with other rats through smell, touch and making high frequency sounds that humans cannot detect. When rats become emotionally attached to other rats in the family, they often display so much affection towards them. Rats can show affection through cuddling, grooming and licking. Rats are able to bond socially like humans. Rats are able to groom themselves several times a day and to a large extent they are cleaner than you can imagine.

Rats demonstrate empathy towards each other, studies have shown that, rats often help each other, when in difficult situations. Rats are able to recognize the expression of pain from other rats and can do anything to help ease off such pains. Rats can be choosy in certain ways, they recognize what type of foods they want and go for them. Rats may eat the most tasty parts of a meal and leave the rest and for this reason they are referred to as erratic eaters. The female rats will always defend their nests and litters when in danger, and except a rat is forced to live outside of its cage, its skin normally produce a nice scent.

Rats can always create alternative ways to access or leave a house. When you block their main routes, they often use their claws, and mouths to dig through another route that may become very difficult to detect. Rats can also smell the presence of predators from afar , thus they can avoid them, predators such as cats can hover close to rat nest , but they may find it difficult to catch rats. Rats can also detect a trap that has bait. When a bait is not properly set, a rat can detect whether the bait in on a trap and may start avoiding the area.

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