Dear Mom,
We just watched a show on PBS about research on animals and their emotions, and basically how animal behaviorists are now accepting a level of anthropomorphism in the science of animals. There was a doctor from Bowling Green University who is studying the origin of joy. (Do you think he's a glass-half-full kind of guy?) They hooked up sensors that could pick up very high pitched noises that rats make when they play, and he said that the researchers came to believe it was laughter. The rats liked human interaction, especially being "tickled", which consisted of exactly that--flipping the rat over, tickling their tummies. You couldn't see their mouths moving, but you could hear them squeeking like crazy. The hand moves, the rat follows. In a very elaborate scientific experiment (led by the very dry doctor), they determined the rats liked to be tickled because if you put a rat at one end of a long straight pathway, and a person's hand at the other end, the rat ran faster to a hand that tickled than one that just pet them.
Love,
Ruth
1 comment:
Dear Ruth,
Did the dry doctor check the temp of the hands that were doing the petting vs tickling? If the tickling hands had been your or Karen's, YIKES, it would have ruined the theory. Or did the hands wear any lotion? Or had they just held a hamburger?
That doc would not have wanted me in his lab. I would have pestered him with questions.
It shouldn't be necessary to give animals human attributes to appreciate them more, or to understand them at all. What I think we need is better understanding of the attributes every animal species already has. I was always appalled at the offhand response certain farmers had about mammals giving birth---the going thought was..." they don't feel it the way we do." When our cat had kittens, the mother cat purred all the way through delivery. I was in awe of her. Goat kiddings were an eye-opener, and that forever put to rest the previous statement about what animals felt or didn't feel. We humans really need to choke down the hubris.
What would be really cool, tho, is if the rats really did laugh, and really like to be tickled. Laughter in a high pitch that we can't hear, like elephants calling to each other in a pitch so low we can't hear. I love the mystery of that.
Sounds like you are feeling well enough to concentrate on something, so that is good. Should have known it would be a ratty story that would perk you right up.
Love, mom
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