The ability to recognize objects despite tremendous variation in their appearance (e.g., because of position or size changes) represents such a formidable computational feat that it is widely assumed to be unique to primates. Such an assumption has restricted the investigation of its neuronal underpinnings to primate studies, which allow only a limited range of experimental approaches. In recent years, the increasingly powerful array of optical and molecular tools that has become available in rodents has spurred a renewed interest for rodent models of visual functions. However, evidence of primate-like visual object processing in rodents is still very limited and controversial. In this seminar, I will present behavioral evidence showing that rats are capable of recognizing visual objects in spite of substantial variation in their appearance, i.e., in spite of changes in size, position, illumination, in-depth rotation and in-plane rotation. I will also show that such a transformation-tolerant (or invariant) recognition is largely accounted by rat ability to spontaneously perceive different views/appearances of an object as similar (i.e., as instances of the same object). Next, I will show that rat object recognition relies on a shape-based, multi-featural processing strategy that makes close-to-optimal use of the discriminatory information afforded by the target objects across their various appearances. Finally, I will present some preliminary neuronal recordings from rat visual cortical areas that run laterally into rat temporal lobe, showing that the deepest (i.e., higher-order) area conveys more information about object identity (also in spite of variation in object appearance), when compared to lower-order (i.e., more occipital) areas (including V1). Taken together, these findings suggest that the rat visual system may serve as a powerful model to study the neuronal substrates of invariant visual object recognition.