ELi5: Rats seem to be the gold standard for behavioral lab experiments – why? Other than quantity, what makes rats good test subjects in relation to humans?
In: Biology
Rats are not the “gold standard”, The way choosing an animal for a test works is all animals are put in a sort of list from most to least sentient or important. For example, nonhuman apes would be at the top followed by non-ape primates, then dogs, rodents, etc.. all the way down to zebra fish and insects. Labs are required to pick the lowest animal on the list that can still produce a good result.
Although it would be more accurate to use apes for every single experiment, they often have to use the lowest mammal on the list, which just so happens to be rodents.
Obviously, this is very simplified, and the other people bringing up cost, space, intelligence and availability are also correct, lots of factors go into determining biological models
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