Test rats increased their own helping behavior when they were presented with the smell of a helpful rat. Remarkably, this holds true even though they did not experience this helpful behavior themselves. Furthermore, such a 'smell of cooperation' depends on the actual activity of helping and is not connected to an individual rat.
— Dr. Nina Gerber of the University of Göttingen on the results of her research on rat behavior; read more in Research team finds effect of odor on helpfulness in rats at Phys.org.