Читать книгу The Handbook of Solitude - Группа авторов - Страница 51

Although rodents are phylogenetically not as close to humans as primates are, they show many similarities to humans in terms of genetic background, anatomy, physiology, and social life. Given rodents’ shorter life cycle, they allow for examining the effects of early experiences within a couple of weeks, rather than decades. Similar to humans and primates, rodents spend the majority of their postnatal period in close care of their parents (Champagne et al., 2003), which provides opportunities to examine whether and how the absence of these early experiences can lead to disruptions in development. After weaning, most rodents spend a large proportion of their time with peers or other rodents in the community. Thus, their social nature also allows for examining the effects of deprivation of such critical experiences.