The social life of rats

Although it is assumed that every hour one article on rats is published, we know surprisingly little about their natural social life. To the contrary, recently there has been increasing effort in understanding their social cognition under lab conditions. However, these lines of research have happened more or less in isolation. Therefore, I reviewed the literature on the socio-ecology of free-ranging rats to bridge the gap of natural social challenges and their performance in controlled lab studies. I conclude that in order to understand the social life of rats, future studies in the wild are desperately needed and are likely to impact our interactions with rats in the wild and in the lab.

© Vitalii Tiagunov