Of Rats, Opossums, and Crickets

Ok, so I was in psychology the other day, and the proff told us about this experiment she worked on with rats and opossums.

The opossums, all they ate was bugs, and they had this instinct for catching them, so that even if they didn't, they'd yank their paw back to bite the cricket's head off even if the cricket wasn't in it's paw.

The rats didn't have that instinct, and kinda sucked at catching crickets. First they started by pouncing on them like cats, but when they'd lift their paw up to eat it, the cricket would jump away.

Ah, but the rats were smart, and they could learn. They quickly learned not to let the cricket escape, and once they had it, they would rip all it's legs off so it couldn't get away, and then eat at it's leisure.

And I have pet rats here. I have to see this. Will post the results....