Blind rats seem more sensitive

Blind rats appear to use other sensory structures more efficiently.

Evidence of increased energy use in sensory organ systems of blind people has, in the past, lent weight to arguments that blind adaptation includes increased sensitivity in other areas. (A full review by 2006 Optician/City University Prize winner Rekha Chopra was published in Optician June 22 2007.)

New studies from the University of Mexico (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073) have shown how blind rats appear to use energy more efficiently in other sensory areas including the whiskers. This would make the blind rat more sensitive to touch than the sighted rat and represent a sensory enhancement as a response to sight loss.