Why rats need company

ISOLATION VS GROUP-HOUSED RATS: “The deterioration in isolation can be intellectual as well as emotional. Rats isolated from weaning were as tame during periodic handling as grouped-housed rats, and as quick to learn two tasks where they had to remove or overcome an obstacle. Morgan (1973) found however that isolated rats could not cope so well when the task was made more difficult or even when it was merely changed. They tended to persevere with the original solution whereas group-housed rats – especially if brought up with plenty of ‘toys’ to play with – could change their strategy quickly…An isolated rat is not a whole rat.”

( Animal behaviour in the Laboratory, Paul Silverman, 1978 )