We present deep 2.2 \mu m imaging of twelve gamma-ray burst host galaxies .
Template spectral energy distributions are fit to the multiband photometry between visible and near-infrared wavelengths to derive a better constraint on the stellar mass of these galaxies .
The internal extinction in the host galaxies is estimated using the rest-frame ultraviolet ( UV ) slope .
We find that the extinction corrected star-formation rates ( SFRs ) of the galaxies are significantly larger than rates derived from emission lines in the visible or the UV continuum .
The ratio between the extinction corrected SFRs and stellar mass for 7 of the host galaxies is high compared to local starbursts and 3 of the hosts have derived far-infrared luminosities comparable to infrared luminous galaxies .
In addition , existing observational data reveal that at least 6 of the 11 putative hosts seem to be disturbed or have companion galaxies within a projected angular separation of \sim 2.5 \arcsec .
If we assume that the host and the companion are at similar redshifts , this corresponds to a physical separation of less than 20 kpc , providing some evidence for an ongoing/recent tidal encounter .
We conclude that tidally-induced starbursts such as those found in infrared luminous galaxies might be popular birthplaces for gamma-ray bursts .
The age of the stellar population in 4 out of 6 galaxies is rather young , of order 10 Myr .
This favors models where gamma-ray bursts are due to the core-collapse of isolated , massive stars and explosion of the resultant black hole-accretion disk system .