The finding refines how scientists study animal happiness

Researchers use tickling to study the biology of animal happiness. A new study shows differences in how rats like to be tickled.

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Researchers use tickling to study the biology of animal happiness. A new study shows differences in how rats like to be tickled.

Janet Stephens/Wikimedia Commons

For nearly a decade, Vincent Bombail has been tickling rats. It’s been a standard technique used in the study of animal happiness . But not all rats particularly enjoy the experience, data show.

Female rats prefer gentler, more playful tickling than males, Bombail and his colleagues report April 15 in Biology Letters .…