Rats vote to clean own cage

In a sign that the much-mooted common sense gene does exist, lab rats in a secret research centre have made it known they would like their cage cleaned.

At considerable cost to their short-term livelihood, 65 per cent of the rats bit an electronic sensor signalling they would like to spend a larger cut of their income — paid in hay, oats and cheese — on cleaning up their environment.

Previously considered stupid, the rats have displayed a considerable ability to predict the future, said one boffin acting as returning officer. They realise, he added, that if they keep eating, farting and shitting without considering the long term consequences, their cage will become uninhabitable within years. Indeed, they will drown in their own faeces.

The rat election was devised to discover if it is inevitable that the dominant species in an environment will use up all its resources even when a sustainable future is possible. Over a period of four weeks, the rats were shown videos of their possible futures and trained to enter small booths to cast a vote, either for more food, or for improved cleaning.

Asked if the experiment in any way reflected the recent UK elections the scientist said: "This experiment gave the rats a real option for saving their environment or dying. And though we think rats are a lesser creature their sense of self-preservation is really quite well defined. In the human election, it is clear that no party offered to clean or protect the cage, and it was only possible to vote for different ratios of cheese, hay or oats."

The next phase is to discover if the common sense gene can be reactivated in human beings.

Full results were: 65 per cent cleaner environment; 15 per cent more cheese; 10 per cent more oats; 10 per cent spoiled.

Previously

• BBC wins top environmental award
• Africa smitten by new animal pestilence
• GM crops: What every parent should know