It was revealed in a recent report that compassion is not just a human trait as it is also present in animals. A new study revealed that when rats were jailed in a lab, they showed efforts of compassion towards their companions.

For years it was thought that rats are creatures that are selfish and greedy, and only do what is good for their own selves. This study however showed otherwise. It was revealed by a team of researchers from the University of Chicago that when two rats were kept in a compartment in a lab, they showed signs of compassion for each other. In the experiment, one rat was kept trapped in a cell, while the other was let free to roam about. The free rat came to the rescue of the one caged, and once it was successful in letting the other one free, it did so in each trail they were put in,

It was astonishing to see that when the free rat was given a choice between chocolate reward and freeing the other companion, he chose the latter. He did so without any reward, and was just compassionate and worried about getting his mate out of the cage.

"There are a lot of ideas in the literature showing that empathy is not unique to humans, and it has been well demonstrated in apes, but in rodents it was not very clear”, revealed Jean Decety from the University of Chicago.

There is still need for more experiments to determine about the other traits of rats, while this one clearly shows they are not mindless dumb creatures, they have feelings too.

This experiment has clarified the common notion of people that rats are greedy and don’t have any emotions.