Mankind's new best friend? Trained giant rats sniff out land mines, tuberculosis.

[Ian David]

Mankind's new best friend?
Trained giant rats sniff out land mines, tuberculosis


By Colin Nickerson
Globe Correspondent / November 23, 2008

Reviled as vermin through the ages, rats are becoming unlikely soldiers in the struggle against two scourges of the developing world: land mines and tuberculosis.

In Mozambique, special squads of raccoon-size rats are sniffing out lethal explosive devices buried across the countryside, remnants of the country's anticolonial and civil wars of the last century.

In neighboring Tanzania, teams of rats use their twitchy noses to detect TB bacteria in saliva samples from four clinics serving slum neighborhoods. So far this year, the 25 rats trained for the pilot medical project have identified 300 cases of early-stage TB - infections missed by lab technicians with their microscopes. If not for the rodents, many of these victims would have died and others would have spread the disease.

"It's fair, I think, to call these animals 'hero rats,' " said Bart Weetjens, the Belgian conceiver of both programs.

The rat squads, at first derided by some interna tional aid officials as ridiculous, have won support from the World Bank and praise from the UN and land mine eradication groups. Now there are plans to deploy the creatures to Angola, Congo, Zambia, and other land mine-infested lands.

<snip>

The rodents are hitched to a light leash and scamper in tight grid patterns in suspected land mine sites. When they scent explosive, they signal with furious digging motions. They typically work from 5 to 9 a.m., quitting when the ferocious African sun gets too hot.




Bart Weetjens in Tanzania with one of his trained rats. (Sylvain Piraux/Apopo International)


More:
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/11/23/mankinds_new_best_friend/

[mitchum]

1. And they will make excellent republican staffers

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. That rat in Bert's arms...

Looks like one happy and contented animal. I have found rats to be rather affectionate and friendly, once they get to know you.

[MineralMan]

3. Most rodents

are easily tamed, and become quite affectionate pets. Food is their main deal, so food is the key to befriending them. I got my local squirrels eating out of my hand in two days of one hour attempts. Now, they'll hop up in my lap and search for peanuts in my shirt pockets.

There's even a mouse in my yard, who lives in a tunnel under the sidewalk, who will come up and take food from my hand.

Of course, I'm a sucker for little furry critters, and I guess they know that.