Sherm Donor

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Problem Solving Rats

Rats are surprisingly clever—much more than people often assume. Scientists actually consider them among the most intelligent small mammals. Here’s what makes them stand out:

🧠 Problem-solving skills

Rats can learn complex tasks and remember solutions. In experiments, they quickly figure out how to navigate mazes, press levers for rewards, or even solve multi-step problems. Once they learn something, they tend to remember it well.

🤝 Social intelligence

Rats are highly social and can recognise other individuals. Studies show they can display empathy—for example, freeing trapped cage mates even when there’s no reward. They also learn by watching each other.

🧩 Memory and learning

They have strong spatial memory, which helps them remember locations of food, dangers, and routes. This is why wild rats are so good at navigating complex environments like sewers and buildings.

🎯 Adaptability

Rats adapt quickly to new situations. They can change behaviour based on experience, avoid traps after encountering them once, and exploit new food sources efficiently.

How smart are they compared to other animals?
Rats are often compared to dogs in basic learning ability and sometimes to primates in certain types of problem-solving (on a smaller scale, of course). They’re not “human-level” thinkers, but for their size, they’re exceptionally intelligent.

A friend of mine sent me pictures of rats and mice in his garage, so he put down those horrible glue traps. He placed chocolate in the middle of the tray, and a rat got stuck and died. A mouse is shown in the pictures below, too. You can see that another rat grabbed a large sponge, ripped it up, covered the glue trap-tray, walked across and ate the chocolate.