rat tickling sounds fun, but its also making rats happier even when they get an injection in between their tickles and it helps researchers bond with rats and handle them better.
Jaak Panksepp is considered a “father of rat tickling” as he recognized rats chirping around tickling play fights as laughter.
“People don’t have a monopoly on emotion. . . Rather, despair, joy and love are ancient, elemental responses that have helped all sorts of creatures survive and thrive in the natural world. . . I think the more we know about the emotions of other animals, the more we will understand our own emotions. . . the more we know about our animal emotions, which support the rest of our mental apparatus, the more ideas we will have about how to be better people. . . the more options we will have for being good to others and the world.” source