Rats have ‘Jedi’-like sense of smell, groundbreaking study asserts: ‘Seems like magic’

Forget scratch and sniff. For rodents, it’s squeak and sniff.

Researchers say rats and mice might be enhancing their strong sense of smell by using sounds unable to be detected by the human ear.

“It almost seems like magic,” researcher Eduardo Mercado III said in a statement accompanying the release of the new study published in “Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.”

“It’s so far off the scale of what we know that it’s like we’re observing ‘Jedi’ rats,” he added, referencing the famous “Star Wars” characters known for their enhanced sense of smell.

According to the Mercado, rodents may use ultrasonic vocalizations, or USVs, which occur at higher frequencies than humans can hear.

These vocalizations may affect how rodents smell by “clustering inhaled odorants”

Ultimately, Mercardo asserts, that the cheese-eaters could “coordinate sniffing with sound production” to “enhance reception of pheromones.”

“This phenomenon has never been observed before, or I believe even suspected, in any animal,” Mercado proclaimed.

“They’re creating new pathways of information by manipulating their environment and controlling the molecular interactions of particles around them.”

Mercado began as a padawan learner studying the songs of humpback whales and later identified a unique inconsistency in the vocals of rats after reviewing cross-research on the marine mammal.

The new study could ultimately have impacts on medical research.

Researching rat frequencies can become a model for treating communicative-related illnesses like Parkinson’s, autism, schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression, according to Mercado and his co-author, Jessica Zhou.

“Rodents are at the forefront of biological research,” Zhou said. “Rodents, especially rats and mice, are the unsung heroes of the scientific world.”