Rats Communicate Through Sniffing at Each Other, Scientists Learn

Ever seen a couple of rats sniffing at each other? New research released Thursday shed light over a new fact that rats have the ability to communicate with one another by sniffing.

Research reported in Current Biology, said that rats seen sniffing at each other are in fact communicating information about an individual's social status. In those encounters, more dominant rats act as primary sniffers, while subordinate rat would then actually reduce their rate of breathing.

Daniel W. Wesson, with the CWRU School of Medicine, said in a statement that rats "sniff each other to signal a social hierarchy and prevent aggressive behavior."

Wesson used radio telemetry recordings of nasal respiration in a series of trials in order to determine the reactions of rats when other rats sniffed in their direction.

"We know that rats and other animals can communicate through vocalizations, physical contact, odors, and also visual displays. To find that there was an undiscovered form of communication these animals had been using right in front of us this whole time was truly a neat experience," Wesson added.

Sniffing as a form of communication highlights the complex social lives of animals. "It opens the door to a totally new line of understanding complex, microstructured social behaviors," Wesson says.