"TIL that three german students got sued by their alma mater for 10,000€ because they graduated "too fast". They completed their bachelors and masters degree within 4 instead of 11 semesters by attending different lectures and sharing notes. Then they founded a ghostwriting agency!"
I'm sure it was observed that there was a wide range in the amount of time living rats would be found in water after something that would have caused them to fall in.
To establish what mechanism was causing the disparity it would be extremely easy to test a rats reactions to different scenarios without actually killing the rat, not to say they didn't anyway though.
The point is that information relating to potentially extending survival time in a disastrous situation is among the most valuable things to study. Can you not recognize why that would be important to understand?