talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

Wow! This is the kind of science article I love! Tuesday's Times has an interesting piece (from which the pictures come) about Gambian pouched rats being used to sniff out landmines. Clicker training is the key, and the rats are more than happy to work for rewards of bananas and peanuts. The article is currently available (reg req'd) on the Times site, but if/when the link expires, it's also here as a pdf.

Aside from my interest in clicker training, I love the part about the rats not being very motivated on Monday mornings. Seems during the week, when they're fed only when they successfully locate mines, they're very motivated to fine as many mines as they can. On the weekends, however, they're fed without "earning" the food, and so they're a little laid back on Monday.

Here's another photo of a rat in its harness. Seems the rats work better/longer than dogs because of their appetite (hmm...they clearly haven't used corgis...) and because their low body weight (approx six pounds) doesn't set off a mine, even if they run over it. A dog, however, is heavy enough to detonate the mine.

Not to worry that this is going to lead to a new member of our household. Terrence has already said "no" (very firmly, I might add) and it's currently a violation of federal law to import Gabian rats. Ones that are already here are ok to stay, but new ones aren't welcome due to monkey pox, which was brought in with a Gambian rat a few years ago and decimated the populations of prairie dogs in the midwest. I believe I read that the Gambian rats themselves are immune--or at least their immune system can respond successfully--to monkey pox, but the native prairie dogs didn't have the necessary defenses. It can also be spread to humans and is similar to smallpox so...no Gambian rats for us. But hey, three cheers for the ones that are serving as mine sniffers.