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
Behavioural experiments need a subject that is smart and mice are very smart for their size. They are also cheap to maintain due to their small size – requires very small space and small amount of food to maintain. Their life cycle is relatively fast, so you can observe generations of behaviour on a reasonable time line.
Other popular test subjects (not necessarily for behavioural experiments) are fish and flies, because they are cheap to maintain in large quantities and life cycle is very fast. These are good for drug tests, but not necessarily good for behavioural tests as they are not as smart and doesn’t behave in a way that mammals would, and usually we are doing experiments to extrapolate to humans.
Another reason is that the mice you use in labs are highly standardised and their genetics have been bred to be a specific way. You buy from special suppliers who maintain specific genetic lineages of mice and they are basically all clones. This means you reduce any variance of genetics from your test results. I believe there’s specific lineages with desirable characters and you pick one that helps with whatever research you’re doing, such as more docile or more aggressive in their personalities etc.
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