Study Claims Odor Triggers Helpfulness Among Rats

Researchers from the Universities of Göttingen, Bern, and St. Andrews discovered an interesting relationship between the scent of a cooperating rat and the helpfulness of other rats who smell such odor.

Through a series of tests, researchers found out that a rat's odor that is engaged in helpful behavior triggers a helpful response from other rats. This is the first study to delve into the effects of odor on helpfulness in rats.

The Surprising Response

In research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B., the researchers detailed the experiment that helped them arrive at their conclusion.

The test set-up consisted of rats choosing to help another rat by pulling a platform containing food reward for the rat in another cage. This would not provide any immediate benefit to them.

Then, the test rats were provided either with the smell of a rat helping another rat in the room or with the smell of a rat that was not.

Researchers noted that just the cooperating individual rat's smell was enough to elicit helpful behavior in other rats.

According to Dr. Nina Gerber from the Wildlife Sciences at the University of Göttingen, "Test rats increased their own helping behavior when they were presented with the smell of a helpful rat." She also clarified that the response depends solely on the rat's behavior and is not due to any "special smell" for certain nice rats.

The "smell of cooperation" is linked to the actual activity of helping instead of being connected to an individual rat. This means that the same individual rat can release the scent of being helpful or not.

The experiment placed physical cues above experience in encouraging cooperation as the test rats responded positively to the scent even if they did not experience the helpful behavior themselves.

(Photo: Ranjith Jaya (Unsplash))
The smell of rats in a cooperating behavior can encourage helpfulness among other rats, a study finds.