Biology and Behavior
The brown rat is nocturnal and is a good swimmer, both on the surface and underwater, but unlike the related black rat (Rattus rattus), they are poor climbers. Brown rats dig well, and often excavate extensive burrow systems. A 2007 study found brown rats to possess metacognition, a mental ability previously only found in humans and some primates, but further analysis suggested they may have been following simple operant conditioning principles.
Read more about this topic: Brown Rat
Famous quotes containing the words biology and, biology and/or behavior:
“The “control of nature” is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man.”
—Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
“Nothing can be more incorrect than the assumption one sometimes meets with, that physics has one method, chemistry another, and biology a third.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“School success is not predicted by a child’s fund of facts or a precocious ability to read as much as by emotional and social measures; being self-assured and interested: knowing what kind of behavior is expected and how to rein in the impulse to misbehave; being able to wait, to follow directions, and to turn to teachers for help; and expressing needs while getting along with other children.”
—Daniel Goleman (20th century)