Rats can play hide and seek, and they are surprisingly good at it.
In 2019, Annika Reinhold and Michael Brecht at Humboldt University in Berlin taught six rats to play the game with humans in a room full of boxes.
The rats learned both roles within a few weeks. When seeking, they searched systematically and looked in the places where the human had hidden before. When hiding, they chose opaque boxes over see-through ones and stayed completely silent so they would not be found.
They were not rewarded with food. Their reward was being tickled and played with. While playing, the rats made joyful ultrasonic squeaks, the rat version of laughter. Some even jumped for joy, and some refused to be found so the game would last longer.
The study was published in the journal Science.
Wait Sabrina has the sweetest voice why have I never seen this clip before. This is so cute! Estie totally gets his soft spoken ness from her. And he looks so much like her here 🥺🥺