People recognize plenty of signs of happiness in other animals. Tail wagging in dogs, purring in cats and laughing in chimpanzees, for example, are well-known. Lots of other species have behaviors that indicate they are content, but receive far less attention. For example, rats brux and boggle, behaviors that usually mean they are happy.
Bruxing is grinding their incisors together. This behavior keeps their constantly-growing teeth worn down and is both common and normal in rats. Boggling is the rapid vibration and pulsing in and out of their eyes. These two behaviors are closely related. When their jaw muscles contract during bruxing, the result is boggling because it’s the motion of the jaw muscles that pushes the eyes forward and back.
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