Scientists discovered that sniffing is used as a form of communication among rats.
People often wonder why dogs, cat and rats go around sniffing stuff. Scientists have discovered that rats use sniffing as a way to communicate with each other. According to a report in Science Daily, this new discovery could help scientists better understand brain regions critical for interpreting communications cues and what brain malfunctions may cause some complex social disorders.
Daniel W. Wesson, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine stated that many studies have been conducted in the past to analyze why some animals vivaciously sniff each other and many have concluded that it is simply to smell each other. However, the new study shows that rats sniff each other to signal a social hierarchy and prevent aggressive behavior.
Previous studies also show that similar to humans, rodents also form complex social hierarchies. Based on this, Wesson set about using wireless methods to record and observe rats as they interacted. He found that when two rats communicate, the dominant rat communicates by sniffing more while the subordinate rat sniffs less, showing respect for the dominant rat.
"These novel and exciting findings show that how one animal sniffs another greatly matters within their social network," said Wesson, an associate professor of neurosciences. "This sniffing behavior might reflect a common mechanism of communication behavior across many types of animals and in a variety of social contexts. It is highly likely that our pets use similar communication strategies in front of our eyes each day, but because we do not use this ourselves, it isn't recognizable as 'communication.'"
In 1970, it was discovered that rats communicate by vocal ultrasonic frequencies. Since then, Wesson's discovery has been the most crucial one in studying the communication system of rodents.
The findings of the study were published in the March 7 issue of Current Biology.
