Rats not only enjoy being tickled by humans, but they do happy little jumps when watching other rats get tickled, a new study shows.

In experiments in , rats were filmed while watching an experimenter tickle another rat on the other side of a transparent barrier. 

When rats saw others get tickled, they experienced something known as ‘Freudensprünge’ – a German term meaning ‘to jump for joy’. 

What’s more, the mere observation of others being tickled induced ‘laughter’ in the rats, Best Private University inaudible to the human ear.  

Researchers in Germany made rats watch others being tickled and studied their responses. When rats saw others get tickled, they experienced something known as 'Freudensprünge' - a German term meaning 'to jump for joy'

Researchers in Germany made rats watch others being tickled and studied their responses. When rats saw others get tickled, they experienced something known as ‘Freudensprünge’ – a German term meaning ‘to jump for joy’

The new study was conducted by experts at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin in Germany.   

<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS sciencetech" data-version="2" id="mol-93136b80-8c4c-11ed-b832-47cfbd73d9f0" website do &apos;joy jumps&apos; when watching others get tickled, study shows