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60 Comments
- megamod, on 11/24/2008, -0/+17OUCH:
Weetjens was asked why the rats do not simply scratch to get food.
"That would be human behavior," he said. "The rats are more honest."
we've sunk lower than rats...you can't use the word rat to refer to a snitch or a person with no integrity since that would be a compliment. - Surferess, on 11/24/2008, -0/+13Well, they don't kill the rats. The rats are trained and will do this multiple times like a bomb-sniffing dog.
When they find a bomb they probably get food. - megamod, on 11/24/2008, -0/+10From the article it doesn't seem like they are used to trigger the mines. They just tell them to point to where the landmine is and come back for a treat.
- doctechnical, on 11/24/2008, -0/+8Landmines are designed to detonate when people or vehicles go over them. If all you needed to set one off was a rat then getting rid of a minefield would be ridiculously easy... just drag a whole bunch of small weights through the field and set'em all off safely from a distance.
- d2002, on 11/24/2008, -6/+13I feel bad for the rats, but there are so many hidden landmines in the world I guess it is better them than us.
- marv117, on 11/24/2008, -0/+5"The rats involved in finding landmines in Mozambique have been bred to be the size of raccoons"
Damn those are huge rats!
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1jrbr4JMHk - ChronicColonic, on 11/24/2008, -0/+5Rats have also been trained to prepare fine French cuisine by controlling humans via hair pulling...
- rstein57, on 11/24/2008, -0/+4You can find the best information on this at the source: http://herorat.org/
This are not "normal" rats but African Giant Pouched Rats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambian_Pouch_Rat . More performance, longer life span and easier to handle.
For 5€ a month you can "adopt" a rat and then get nice mails from it. My "Rosie" is now in field training and will be deployed soon to real work. Have a look at her here:
http://meetthegimp.org/i-just-adopted-rosie/ - ubernoggin, on 11/24/2008, -1/+5Remember NIMH!
- apophenic, on 11/24/2008, -1/+4Dupe.
- cyrusuncc, on 11/24/2008, -0/+3If the rats scratch too hard, you'll have to train another rat
- MrDoug, on 11/24/2008, -1/+4Now THAT is a good use of Rats!
- gopher043, on 11/24/2008, -0/+3sweet! Bush and Cheney can still find work after Jan 20!
- gdo01, on 11/24/2008, -0/+3The link in the other submission was better too.
http://digg.com/general_sciences/Trained_giant_rat ...
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/1 ... - holzp, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2Who would have thought there was a way to move the standard of living for a rat downwards?
- xtmno3, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2The video posted above by marv117 specifically mentions that they picked rats because they are too small and light to set off most mines. If they wanted to send in a suicidal animal to get blown up by the mines, I doubt they would pick something too light to trigger them.
- marmol, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2aww that rat is actually kind of adorable with his little harness. i want one!!!
- paulmer2003, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2Yeah...no *****. This story has been on many websites so many ***** times.
Buried. - gdo01, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2This video is better than the article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxnGH5e_EUE
And no the rats are not suicide rats. Do you really think people would train a rat for months just to send it to kill itself? - dagr8tim, on 11/24/2008, -2/+4Rats outnumber humans by what, 3 to 1, 4 to 1?
I don't think the rats are harmed, but if afew do accidentally trigger a land mine. Well, I see it as leveling the playing field. - Duncanizer1, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2Did you even read the article? They spot the mines, not blow them up.
- publiclurker, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2Actually, it craters the playing field.
- rstein57, on 11/24/2008, -0/+2Who would pay 6000€ to train a rat and then let it get blown up? Check their site: http://herorat.org
- xenmaster4, on 11/24/2008, -1/+3Glad they said "actually" - otherwise who knows if they were telling the truth or just making this ***** up.
- shark72, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Exactly. Not only were they trained... they were ACTUALLY trained.
To the UPI's credit the original headline didn't include the word "actually." For some reason, the submitter thought that adding "actually" would make the headline better. - ExRe, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Ya, it would have to be one huge rat to set off a land mine.
- atb12688, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Seeing as they're nearly as smart as dogs, and have a great sense of smell, but obviously much lighter-weight, they are perfect for mine-detection. They are saving lives...
- jehan60188, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1I would have to see results before finalizing this, but I would say this is Nobel Prize worthy.
- Duncanizer1, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1@casbar
Oh... SORRY!
Maybe you should consider reading it a second time to make sure you don't spill some nonsense like that. - demosthenes247, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Send a couple to Paris so they can teach us how to cook.
- mugupo, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1I wonder if there ever a thief train rat to do the stealing for them?
- jehan60188, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1"the size of raccoons"
*shudder* - inactive, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Snitches get stitches. Damned rats.
- ssweiti, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Weetjens was asked why the rats don't simply scratch to get food.
"That would be human behavior," he told the Globe. "The rats are more honest." - derekmas10, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Dugg for rats being more honest than humans.
- doctechnical, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Dude, people train *people* to kill themselves, if it will take out other folks they hate. If they could train suicide bomber rats I'm sure they would.
- gdo01, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Not much training in telling someone how to push a button and put a bomb vest on. Higher ups decide the target. Suicide bombers are mostly just given motivation not training. These rats are conditioned through reward and withholding of rewards to look for something not through motivation and celestial happiness.
- Smegzor, on 11/29/2008, -0/+1This mine has tuberculosis, but this one is safe.
- SigmaStar, on 12/19/2008, -0/+1"that would be human behavior"
Tell me about it! - ThatsNotPoetry, on 11/25/2008, -0/+1Oldest news.
- shylove, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1If they could just be trained to smell a rat it would save us from lier's in the White House next time!!!!
- inactive, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1*****
- Xibby, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1You mean trap right?
- palehorse864, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Incidentally, when most people step on a landmine, they call for these little guys before the mine blows up. I'm not sure what they expect them to do once the person has already found the mine though.
- publiclurker, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1If you look at the rats they use, they are pretty freaking large. Not enough to trip the mines, but still, not ones I'd like to meet in the barn.
- CylonsOfTheLamb, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1It depends on the type of mine. Some mines have electronic sensors that trigger the mine when they detect movement nearby, launching a shaped charge into the air to detonate and fire downward into the usually thinner armor on top of a vehicle.
Some mines (anti-tank) require such a large amount of weight to set them off that most vehicles can drive safely over them, even if loaded down with cargo and passengers.
I remember laughing my butt off watching some new recruits running for their lives when the relative safety of an anti-tank mine was demonstrated by having a large soldier repeatedly jump up and down on top of one. The new recruits didn't realize that the baby blue color of the mine indicated it was a dummy mine for training purposes.
I guess the ones I hated/feared the most were the bouncing betties and the little toe poppers. I sure did love my claymores though. Wish I had me a couple dozen of them tucked away somewhere. - inactive, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1...mostly
- inactive, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1sniff sniff ...... IT'S A TARP!!!!!
- publiclurker, on 11/24/2008, -0/+1Only because lawyers weigh too much.
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