The social life of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)
Abstract
The Norway rat has important impacts on our life. They are amongst the most used research subjects, resulting in ground-breaking advances. At the same time, wild rats live in close association with us, leading to various adverse interactions. In face of this relevance, it is surprising how little is known about their natural behaviour. While recent laboratory studies revealed their complex social skills, little is known about their social behaviour in the wild. An integration of these different scientific approaches is crucial to understand their social life, which will enable us to design more valid research paradigms, develop more effective management strategies, and to provide better welfare standards. Hence, I first summarise the literature on their natural social behaviour. Second, I provide an overview of recent developments concerning their social cognition. Third, I illustrate why an integration of these areas would be beneficial to optimise our interactions with them.
Citation
Schweinfurth , M K 2020 , ' The social life of Norway rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) ' , eLife , vol. 9 , e54020 . https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54020
Publication
eLife
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2050-084XType
Journal item
Rights
Copyright © 2020, Schweinfurth. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Description
This work was supported by a grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number P2BEP3 175269).Collections
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