Remember that movie where Stuart Little, that mouse from the story books, drove his little sports car around the house? Well, it turns out he isn’t the only rodent with a need for speed.
University of Richmond professor and neuroscientist Kelly Lambert writes in a recent essay for The Conversation that rats are not only capable of driving specially designed “rodent cars,” they really like it!
The little rascals even enjoy hopping into the cars and revving the engines.
If you’re wondering what would possess someone to teach rats to drive in the first place, Lambert writes that she wanted to explore the idea that “complex environments enhance neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to change across the lifespan in response to environmental demands.”
That rats were initially offered a Froot Loop as a reward for accomplishing the task, but eventually observed they were still eager to speed off in their cars without any prodding … and find yet another way to make our lives miserable.