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The Defensive Strategies of Foraging Rats: A Review and Synthesis

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Abstract

Foraging rats (Rattus norvegicus) are vulnerable to, and must protect themselves from, two kinds of threat. Conspecifics will attempt to steal their food and they themselves will be subject to predation. To safeguard their food and themselves they are able to call upon a surprising number of strategies and defensive maneuvers. This paper summarizes their defensive strategies, the stimulus features of their surroundings that modify these strategies, and the cognitive processes that they use to evaluate their susceptibility to threat. Their strategies are discussed both as antecedents of human behavior and in relation to their relevance in understanding brain function.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, T1K 3M4

    Ian Q. Whishaw, Boguslaw P. Gorny & Hans C. Dringenberg

Authors
  1. Ian Q. Whishaw
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  2. Boguslaw P. Gorny
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  3. Hans C. Dringenberg
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Correspondence to Ian Q. Whishaw.

Additional information

The Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is thanked for their support for this research.

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Whishaw, I.Q., Gorny, B.P. & Dringenberg, H.C. The Defensive Strategies of Foraging Rats: A Review and Synthesis. Psychol Rec 41, 185–205 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395105

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