4 ms·
To folks saying this is heartless, I'd urge you to scroll down to the "Experiment" section of the article: > I received three 8-week-old male Long Evans rats,
by asxd 5y ago
To folks saying this is heartless, I'd urge you to scroll down to the "Experiment" section of the article:
> I received three 8-week-old male Long Evans rats, Romero, Carmack and Tom. Romero was fearless (more like thrill-seeking) and loved grapes. Carmack was a real architect building around its home keeping it tidy; he was fond of bananas. Tom began shy, but held the most surprises in learning performance.
> I spent around 6 weeks with them during their (and my) night cycle, ~1 hour with each daily. It took two weeks to habituate them to me — this process could be accelerated, I was just a little slow with them. One week to teach them to stay put while I was dressing them; I also tested multiple harnesses and their combinations during this time.
It seems to me from this that the rats were well-cared for and the author formed a bond with them, considering how he seems to fondly recount their personality quirks.
- jmull 5y agoThat doesn't really reassure me. I don't know anywhere near enough about rats in general or this particular situation to say whether or not this is something bad for the rats, but this recounting of basic bonding doesn't really tell me anything.
- asxd 5y agoJust anecdotally, I had a pet rat as a kid. They're pretty friendly creatures who seem to enjoy company and playtime. Not sure what constitutes "bad for the rats", but I personally think a situation where they're getting food, safety and stimulation would not fit into that category.
- e40 5y agoRegarding playtime, rats love to be tickled. There are many videos available out there showing it. It really opened my eyes to what was going on in a rat's brain that they would enjoy "pretend goring" by their caretaker and found it enjoyable.
- bin_bash 5y agoI think the final line is more reassuring: > The experiment was approved by the Feinstein Institutes’ Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Sounds like he went through the proper channels.