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According to the research reported in Current Biology, rats uses sniffing to gather information to determine individual's social hierarchy. The study reveals, more dominant rats more actively sniffs, while subordinate rat would decrease their rate of breathing.

Daniel W. Wesson, with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said in a statement that rats "sniff each other to signal a social hierarchy and prevent aggressive behavior."

Wesson used radio telemetry recordings of nasal respiration in a series of trials to determine the reactions of rats when other rats sniffed in their direction.

Sniffing as a form of communication highlights the complex social lives of animals. "It opens the door to a totally new line of understanding complex, microstructured social behaviors," Wesson says.

"We know that rats and other animals can communicate through vocalizations, physical contact, odors, and also visual displays. To find that there was an undiscovered form of communication these animals had been using right in front of us this whole time was truly a neat experience," Wesson added.

Wesson's study shows the first new form of communication behavior in rats since it was discovered in the 1970s that they communicate through vocal ultrasonic frequencies.

Wesson said he will continue his research, utilizing these findings to better understand how certain behaviors go awry.

The paper is called ”Sniffing behavior communicates social hierarchy,” published in Current Biology.