Training like Angry makes for fat rats

I've been listening to a Nutrition 101 class from UC Berkley that's up as a podcast on iTunes, and I just heard THE most interesting thing (or I think so anyway).

They did a study on rats where, in half the cages they just put a wheel and let the rats run all they wanted. The itty bitty little rats ran 7-14 kilometers a day (4.35-8.7 miles)! But when rats are doing their own thing they don’t run it straight, they “scurry”: they’ll run like 50 meters and stop, sniff around, then they’ll run another 50 meters and stop again, etc. The other half of the rats they put on tiny little treadmills and made them run the same distances continuously. The rats that ran their little rat marathons all in one go were fitter than the little sprinter rats. The scientists concluded that the pattern is as important as speed and volume for building fitness.

So much for the government’s recommendation that your 30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week can be met by parking at the other end of the parking lot and taking the stairs...

10 points for anyone who can find more information on this study.