Groups of naive rats learn to select nutritionally adequate foods faster than do isolated naive rats

Naive juvenile Norway rats,Rattus norvegicus, were housed either individually or in groups of six and were given 10-days ad libitum access to three palatable, protein-deficient diets and a single, less palatable, protein-rich diet. Although subjects housed in groups ate the same amount of food as did subjects housed alone, group-housed animals both ate more protein-rich diet and grew more rapidly than did individually housed subjects.