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I definitely use a rake for leaves and not food ;)

... I'm going to put it out there that one day a Japanese scientist will figure out how to make an octopus tapdance.

Anyone want to take me on that bet?

Army of Mice Armed With Rakes Raids Downtown Tokyo For Cheese - Film@11!

opposable thumbs aint got ***** on rats

Splinter taught Turtles to fight crime. Not impressed...

sure NOW it's rakes, next they will learn to use guns. don't these scientists think of the implications?

is this true, or am I just cheesing

Alright, I'll get it out of the way:
I, for one, welcome our new rodent overlords.

I'm picturing rats with little rakes maintaining a little banzai tree rock garden.

I used to have Degus! They're really smart, and quite friendly. Good pets, as far as rodents go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degu

Now can has Raturday?

Not any big surprise. Contrary to popular belief and Christian propaganda, tool use is not an exclusive trait of the Human Race.

Why not chop sticks?

I see the Japanese are outsourcing the rats from Home Depot.

That sand's not gonna rake itself, Hiroshi.

3 responses to: “Scientists teach rodents to use rake” [Below the video]

STEVE:
"Great! Now the rats can rake those zen gardens."
NEIL DUCKETT:
"Rake the zen gardens, too funny!"
BRANDON:
"That’s pretty damn awesome, keeping with the other comments, we need ones that can make zen gardens now."


Zen Gardens, The Ultimate Goal.

Yes! First we get the animals to start using tools, then they develop weapons, and then...A Real Life RPG. Yes, imagine it. Slaying cats riding dogs with spears and taking their loot, sign me up.

Today rake, tomorrow Skaven invasion.

I see nothing in that video that demonstrates that the rats even attempted to use the rake to bring in the food. They place the rake either above the food or close enough to it that eventually, after enough attempts, the rats movements will involuntarily bring the food to it. Throw out the thosands of failures and piece together two of the successess and call it success.

Some of you guys need to take at least a basic level science course.

My cats use me as a tool to get food. Get on, purr and knead skin, make a general cute nuisance of themselves and soon enough they get food. It's nothing new.

I didn't see him do anything with that green plastic thing besides push it around.....

that ain't a rat

Master Splinter creates zen garden

That little guy would be perfect for getting in those hard to reach areas like under the couch!

or

Haven't the Japanese heard of a Roomba?

Can I place an order for 10,000 of the little buggers around...say...November?

Yes! Now I don't have to rake my own miniature-sized fields.

When all the illegal immigrants leave America, who will do our landscaping? Rats.

A rat who knows if you fiddle with this thing, sometimes you get food.
Film it long enough, you're sure to get the odd shot like this.
I dont buy it.

BEWARE!

THE JAPANESE RAT ARMY IS ON ITS WAY!

/cruise control

I watched the video twice and I never saw the rodent using a tool... the only rake-like object visible to me was the fence that they were placing the seed behind, but I always saw the rodent using his paws to pull the seed forward.

Am I blind?

They use them to rake zen gardens.

That seemed like a random movement while trying to grab the food, not intelligence..

Buried as misleading. Degus, not rats, are closely related to guinea pigs. -.-

I'm shocked! I would have expected that taking upskirt photos of schoolgirls would have been their first research item.

I guess this means that rats are more intelligent than politicians-- if they could only teach politicians not to lie, then we'd have something really staggering!

I for one welcome our new Japanese rat overlords.

Wow! They trained rodents! I didn't think that was possible!

/sarcasm (in case it didn't show)

I for one welcome our new mice over lords.

Well last year it was shown that rats do possess Metacognition (the ability to think about thinking) which, up until now, only Humans and some Primates had been show to possess and some scientists think it's a trait required for a species to become sapient and sentient. It is entirely possible that if early rats had possessed stronger forepaws with opposable thumbs, the world would be run by highly evolved rats instead of highly evolved monkeys.

Is pawing at a rake the same think as using a rake?

In which case, my cat can drive a car....

The day when the Japanese rodents will overcome us all draws near.

The Secret of NIMH. Anyone ever watched it? It's pretty damn frightening.

Here's video of these little guys using their rakes. I can't believe it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfp7FbsnsbU

The beginning of another attempt at cheap labor.

I want to say a monty python joke so badly right now, but I'm ill and I can't think :(

Looked really fake to me. Just trial and error videos which showed 2 instances of the rat randomly hitting the rake to the food. Not scientific at all.