A social structure relates to how a group of animals or humans are organised. In many groups across the animal kingdom, there are defined roles and hierarchies that allow the groups to act more effectively.
When you see a group of rats, they will have often spotted you first and the resulting scurrying and panic can make it seem like these pests live in a state of constant chaos. This depiction is in accurate, and the rodents actually have complex group structures that help them survive in challenging conditions.
Although you are unlikely to see them build their own bars where they can discuss politics whilst dining out on cheese and wine any time soon, rats are intelligent creatures and display a whole host of developed social signals towards each other. They will tend to have hierarchies in a colony which can keep them happy and help to maintain order. When this hierarchy is disrupted, often because one of the rats at the top has died, it can cause stress and fighting amongst the lower ranks.
We will have a look into the hierarchies often seen in their communities and some of the behaviours they display towards each other. By understanding these aspects of a rat’s life, we can learn to tailor our management of them to produce the most effective results.
Hierarchy
Rats can show evidence that there are defined hierarchies within their colonies which creates a complex social structure and varying behaviours between individual rats. These aspects are normally more evident when there is a larger group of rats, where there will be an alpha rat as the dominant leader who is underpinned by layers of subordinate rats. Although most evidence of these hierarchies comes from lab-rats, it is likely that they apply in a similar way to wild, pest rats.
The Alpha
The alpha, as you would expect, will be the dominant rat. Often, but not necessarily, the biggest in the family, it will be able to win fights and have a leadership attitude. They are not necessarily aggressive and will often intervene and help to settle the dispute if fighting breaks out with other members of their pack, however they will be the first to initiate attacks on intruders to their nests.
It can often be hard to spot which member is the alpha, although their size and lack of confrontation from other rats can be an indicator.
Beta
Betas are the ‘second in command’ and are dominant over all other rats apart from the alpha. There can often be more than one so it would be difficult to see which rats are Betas in smaller groups. If there is trouble in a group, it will often be from betas either trying to become alphas or who are insecure about their position and feel the need to enforce their dominance on the lower ranks.
Gamma
Gamma rats are near the bottom of the chain. They tend to get along with all of the other rats in their group and show little to no ambition of becoming more dominant.
Zeta
These are the bottom of the food chain, often seen as outcasts and will actively avoid more dominant rats, especially if the dominant rats display behaviours of bullying towards them. Often these rats will not understand how to communicate socially so don’t tow the line in the social structure. Not all rat colonies have these in their social structures.
Importance of a Social Structure
By having defined leaders and roles within a group, peace and order can be maintained which helps rats to thrive. They can learn their specific roles and get on with them, rather than squabble. Aggression between members of the colony becomes rare and is exerted on intruders instead, helping to protect the integrity of the nest.
Other benefits of living in cooperative communities include greater protection and support when raising young, the ability to cover more area when searching for food, water or shelter as well as the benefits derived from the sharing of knowledge in relation to dangers in their environment. These are all great to help them thrive in larger groups, and can present real problems from a pest management perspective.
However, it is also important to note that rats do not need such large groups and defined structures to survive. In small groups there simply won’t be enough bodies to create a defined structure and they can do just fine all the same.
Some Key Social Behaviours
Grooming
The employment of grooming one another is not unique to rats. They do it to show affection and create stronger bonds as well as ensure one another are kept healthy and free from parasites. It can also be used to show dominance by one rat over another whereby a dominant rat will pin down another and aggressively groom them.
Huddling
Rats can often huddle up, next to or on top of each other to share body heat and keep warm. This can help them to survive in colder conditions. They have been known to huddle even in warmer conditions where there is plenty of space, suggesting that it may be another method they use to form tighter social bonds.
Collaboration
Rats collaborate in their groups in many ways such as sharing food and nesting. They will also have survival techniques, such as sending one rat out of the nest to scan the environment for a few minutes prior to any other rats coming out to explore.
Recognition
Rats are able to differentiate between different rats, such as direct family members from non-family members, the ‘level’ of relatedness e.g. they can differentiate between cousins and siblings and can recognise intruders in their nests. This ability may help in successfully reproducing and protecting their homes from invaders.
Shared Emotional Responses
According to research by the University of St Andrews, rats can not only recognise different emotions of other rats, but also replicate those emotions. Essentially, this can mean that if one rat experiences stress in a specific situation, others can share that stress, without ever experiencing the situation. This may pose problems with management techniques if rats can alert other colony members of danger, without the other members ever having to experience the danger, such as a trap.
Cooperation
Rats will almost always work to create mutually beneficial results for both themselves and their partners. For instance, if given the choice of taking a course of action that rewards them only, or a course of action that rewards them and their partner, they will choose the latter option. Other ways they have been known to engage in mutually beneficial actions include helping each other out of enclosed areas, sharing food, and grooming.
Conclusion
Rats can have large, complex social structures which we have explored above. We have also looked into some of the behaviours rats show towards each other, most notably their ability to communicate and cooperate. Understanding these factors is important when creating effective DIY pest management solutions to deal with a rat infestation. It’s no secret that it can be incredibly difficult to get rid of them, and now we can see why.
For instance, we have seen above that rats can share and understand feelings of emotional distress. This could mean that if one rat has a bad experience with a trap, it could relay these emotions to its colony, creating a whole nest of rats that will now actively avoid traps going forward.
By understanding this, we can employ tactics in our pest management plan to increase effectiveness, such as using powerful traps that ensure a trap kills the rodent, and removing any dead rats regularly.
In addition, understanding their behaviours may also help us to develop more effective pest control solutions, such as effective deterrents or strategies that can increase inter-colony aggression or prevent them from breeding so readily.
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