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The story
Giving rats a piece of chocolate reportedly changes their ultrasonic vocalizations — a shift that might reflect a feeling of “deliciousness,” according to an article from Nazology that became a hot topic on 5ch. Rats’ ultrasonic calls have long been thought to shift with context and reflect their emotional state, but this piece drew attention for zeroing in on their reaction to sweetness specifically. On the thread, opinion split between reading the calls as an expression of deliciousness and dismissing them as mere alertness or a plain physiological reflex, with the discussion ultimately centering on just how hard it is to translate an animal’s feelings into human words.
Rats squealed “delicious” while eating chocolate
It’s one of those nights — you pop a square of chocolate into your mouth during a break from overtime, and an involuntary “mmm, good” slips out.
Rats’ ultrasonic calls are known to change depending on the situation, and are thought to reflect their emotional state.
Source: nazology.kusuguru.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
I could go for seconds too!
Might be beside the point, but I bet it's squealing just because there's sugar in there making it sweet — I doubt it actually likes the bitterness or flavor of the cacao itself.
Rat: "What's this guy on about. Fine, then YOU go lick plain sugar from now on."
They're happier with meat. Maybe, like their ancestors, deep down they think rat is the tastiest thing of all lol
What are you on about. Unlike you, a lowly creature, we humans have the refined palate to enjoy bitterness and flavor. We think plain sweetness alone is monotonous and boring — we're nothing like some rat.
You're the lowly creature here lol, your own post contradicts itself.
There were stray dogs hanging around some ruins in Egypt, so I gave one a Calorie Mate bar I had on me. It seemed wary of the unfamiliar smell — kept sniffing it but never actually ate it. Maybe it sensed something was off.
My two tabby sister cats never once fought over canned cat food, but the moment I gave them KFC chicken they were growling and wrestling over it.
I eat a little bit every day myself.
Nah, however you slice it, that's clearly "yum, yum." Sounds like some researcher's study with a weird bias baked in.
Isn't the point more that involuntarily making a sound when you feel happy about something tasty might not be a habit unique to humans?
Also, they're running this experiment in a smaller space than I expected.
> involuntarily making a sound when you feel happy about something tasty
Nah, that could well be a habit unique to humans. Even among humans, some people just don't do it — if it's not a habit you have, you won't say it.
> could be a habit unique to humans
> if it's not a habit, you won't say it
Exactly. And isn't this study likewise suggesting that "some animals also have individuals with a similar habit"?
Background and Discussion Points
Theobromine, the main compound in chocolate, is known to cause toxicity in dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits, and this point came up as a question on the thread too. The amount given in this experiment appears to have been very small, and toxicity itself isn’t really the article’s focus. Research treating animal ultrasonic vocalizations as indicators of emotion has been advancing in recent years, and methods for estimating pleasure or displeasure from the frequency and pattern of calls are becoming established in behavioral science. That said, the phrase “squealing deliciously” is itself a kind of anthropomorphism — what’s actually been observed is simply a change in vocalization patterns. The split in opinion on the thread ultimately comes down to a single question: how far are we willing to accept that anthropomorphism — do we read the calls as an emotional expression, or as nothing more than a physiological reflex or alert signal?
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “[Nazology] Rats Squealed “Delicious” While Eating Chocolate.”
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