Gabe (a male rat) will be interested in Ziggy (a female rat) if she smells normal, but will not be interested in her if she reeks of cat hair.
Materials
Gabe (male rat)
Ziggy (female rat)
Cat hair
Procedure
1. Observe the male rat's behavior while he is alone. Record his actions.
2. Place the female rat in the same area as the male rat.
3. Observe and record the male rat's actions.
4. Remove the female rat. Rub her down with the cat hair thoroughly.
5. Put the female back in with the male.
6. Observe and record the male rat's actions again.
Results
If everything went well during the investigation, a table of data recorded during the investigation would resemble the chart below.
As you can see above, the cat hair affected the male rat's actions toward the female rat. After the cat hair was rubbed onto the female rat, the male rat was no longer interested in the female.
Conclusion
The hypothesis was proven. Need anything else be said? The reason we three students (Luckas Fried, Benjamin Perwein, and Jeffery Bird) did this lab investigation was not only to get a good grade in our Genetics class, but also to see what would happen in the experiment - we were not even sure if everything would go right, but it did, thank goodness!!!
Sources of Error
There are two main possible problems that could occur during this investigation. The first being that one might wonder why the female rat has to have the cat hair rubbed on her as opposed to the male and the second being interference of something other than the smell of the cat hair.
The reason the female was selected for the cat hair is because a male rat is always dominant over the female rat and is often more curious and aggressive. Therefore, he woud want to explore the female. When the scent of a cat becomes an obstacle between the male and female, the male gets confused and decides not to bother with the female rat.
The "interference of something other than the smell of the cat hair" could be anything that alters the male rat's interest in the female rat. Perhaps the male rat has spent too much time with the female and has become bored with her. Or, maybe he is hungry and makes a snack a higher priority than the female rat. Either way, nature is just being normal and that can't be helped.
Hypothesis
We predict that Gabe will react frightened of Ziggy when she has the scent of cat hair on her.
Materials
Rat (Gabe - a male rat)
Cat Hair
Rat - family member or friend (Ziggy)
Procedure
First, you should observe and record the rat (Gabe) and record all the actions he does when he's alone. Next, you put in the family member or friend and observe and record how their reactions are (keep in mind to closely watch them. Lastly, rub the fur on the friend/family member (Ziggy). Then put the friend/family member into the cage and find the results of the hypothesis.
Results
When alone, Gabe was cleaning himself, eating, sniffing around, and he had mellow moods and movements. With Ziggy, he was aggressive, sniffed Ziggy, acted dominant, and he chased Ziggy. Gabe isn't interested in Ziggy as before (when Ziggy has cat hair), less sniffing, stayed in corner of cage, and Ziggy tried to excape from the cage. Look below at the chart for the recorded results.
Conclusion
Gabe was TRYING TO AVOID ZIGGY. Although he was not petrified of her. He was still not acting the same he did the time without the cat hair, he was staying away. It was easy to tell that he was avoiding her by pushing her away and not paying attention to her when she was on the other side. So, I conclude that rats can tell each other by scent.
Sources of Error
Gabe is a mellow mouse like Screwball (his father). So, a less calm rat might be panicking or fighting the other rat.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that the rats will run away from the smell of cats.
Materials
Gabe the rat
Ziggy the rat
Cat hair
Procedure
First we examined Gabe by himself in his adopted habitat. Then we put Ziggy, his sister, in. Then we took Ziggy out then we rubbed the cat hair over her and we put her back in.
Results
Conclusion
In fact rats are somewhat afraid of cats. However, they don't run from them as shown in the graph above.
