The Science of Vermin Tickling

Rats love being tickled. At least the happy rats do.
 
Dedicated researchers at Humboldt University of Berlin tickled rats in order to determine the brain’s tickle center. They found it: the trunk of the somatosensory cortex! Nat Geo reports (video included).
 
Interestingly: anxious rats didn’t light up their somatosensory cortex trunk. If it could have been recorded, Anxious Rat #4 likely thought: “First you put me in a cage and then you put on a latex glove and tickle me. Dude, you’re sick.”