Funny things rats do: Head swaying. Is my rat drunk?
Like 2 Dislike 0 Published on 8 Aug 2018
In this video you can see a demonstration of something albino and pink eyed rats in particular (and sometimes dark eyed rats) do: head swaying.
Because rats have poor vision and albinos and pink eyeds have even worse vision (also because they have no irises to filter bright light) you can sometimes see them do head swaying or 'scanning'.
You would think they are drunk, tripping, or have balance problems (not to be mistaken for a headtilt caused by an innerear infection), but actually they are moving their heads from side to side to increase their depth perception. You could kind of compare this to a human with a lazy eye who has reduced depth perception. Some switch their vision rapidly between both eyes (almost subconsciously) to increase their depth perception. You will rarely see people with a lazy eye sway their head from side to side though 😉. Also humans have a much larger field of vision than rats.
Portrayed in this video is my pink eyed dilute (variegated) husky dumbo rat Hector.
I know the video is a bit dark and grainy, but I can't use extra bright lights because Hector has no irises, and his eyes are already damaged. He was already blind in his left eye when I got him. That's also why I can't take photos of him with flash. Even just ambient light will damage their eyes. So the cage doesn't get direct or indirect sunlight nor even too bright ambient light.
More interesting reading on rat vision here:
● "What do rats see?" at ratbehavior.org: http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatVision.htm
● "Advanced health check", in particular the bit about vision and eyes, at ratguide.com: http://ratguide.com/health/basics/advanced_health_check.php
● "Red Eyed Rat Swaying..." at understandingpetfancyrats: http://understandingpetfancyrats.com/2016/01/10/red-eyed-rat-swaying-weaving-back-forth/
● "Rats have a double view of the world" at Max Planck Gesellschaft: https://www.mpg.de/7269965/rats-overhead-binocular-field
I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Creative Commons music: Retreat by Jason Farnham
Photos of all my (20+) rats since 2002: https://deviantart.com/eternatease/gallery/62050300/My-pet-rats