Helpful Rats

Jason Snyder, via Wikimedia Commons. Distributed under a CC BY 2.0 license.

Michael Taborsky, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, has spent decades investigating and helpfulness in different animal species, including common brown rats. His studies, which take advantage of the natural sociality of rats, are revealing the communication mechanisms underlying reciprocal cooperation.

Read the whole story at my Animal Minds blog: How Does a Rat Ask for Help?