An experiment was designed and conducted to define differences in the amount of aerosol inhaled by group caged rodents as compared to the theorectically ideal individually caged rodent. Three groups of animals were evaluated for the degree of pulmonary deposition following a single 6 h exposure to a 3 .mu. aerosol of dodecyl alcohol. One group contained individually caged rats, while the other 2 groups contained rats caged in groups of 3 or 7. Analyzing lungs and trachea for the dodecyl alcohol indicated 25.6 .mu.g/g, 27.1 .mu.g/g and 23.1 .mu.g/g for rats caged individually, in 3, or in 7, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the amount of dodecyl alcohol found in group caged rat lungs as compared to individually caged rat lungs. Group housing does not appear to reduce the amount of aerosol inhaled by rats during a 6 whole body exposure.