Image: Oleg Kozlov Alamy
In Brief
Rat Romance
Female rats are not passive sex partners: they pace the encounters and will run across an electrified grid to gain access to a male.
Sex fortifies the brain (in rats, at least), stimulating the growth of new neurons and neuronal connections.
Rodent females are choosy, traveling up to seven city blocks—a long way for a rat—to find a male who meets her standards. She sniffs out his biological germ-fighting arsenal.
Reprinted from The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet’s Most Successful Mammals, by Kelly Lambert, Ph.D., by arrangement with Perigee, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., Copyright © 2011 by Kelly Lambert.
In the reality television shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, 25 potential mates vie for a desirable male or female during a series of artificial encounters and interactions. The most attractive candidates are given a rose each week, a gesture indicating their special standing among the others. These shows are saturated with cultural icons representing romance and desire: physically beautiful people, bikinis, hot tubs, gourmet meals, adventure dates, champagne.
See what we're tweeting about
6 Comments
Add CommentRats are not mice and the terms are not interchangeable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSure hope the scientists were better at identifying rats than your photographers were. Maybe guinea pigs are not that different from rats when it comes to sex behavior, but its back to the drawing board or rat and guinea pig cages for now!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll bet the rts ans guinea pigs know the difference!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll bet the rts ans guinea pigs know the difference!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe image above is of two fancy pet rats, not guinea pigs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRight.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishmmmm, ha ha tee hee ha