THE LOWLY RAT
The common rat - in a variety of sizes – has been universally detested and hated by mankind. Yet, this basic beast has serve us well in many ways - actually saved human lives as well as having brought about the death of many.
The steady use of the rat as a helper has been because the laboratory rat studies which are intended to improve the physical condition of Man can be carried on over several generations of rats. Comparative figures concerning body functions and reactions in various bodily structures can be studied in a readily accessible form. The role of the rat has been largely a passive one. All the rat usually has had to do is to be present.
His newest job, however , has been a bit more demanding.
Tested under discreetly “fenced” conditions, it has been found that rats – trained to do so - can sniff out buried land mines. The breed of rats selected is one which learns quickly and retains much of what is has been taught. It retains enough procedural knowledge to enable it to seek out the exact locations of deadly mines.
Initial shipments such rats were sent to Africa for field testing under actual combat conditions. In the controlled tests the questing rodent was “turned loose”on a light leash, to go seeking the scent of the mine over a set are. They are trained to sit when they find such a scent. The spot is then marked with paint spray and the rat is fed a reward. He will eagerly search for other such locations to merit additional food treats.
The rat is even more suited to this mine sniffing task than dogs trained in the same way. They are smaller, lighter and can be transported with greater ease and fr greater numbers if needed. The life span of a rat, though shorter than that of some dogs used in such work, shortens their usefulness, but the rat is better suited to the task because of his special special sense of smell. The rat's sense of is higher developed because his entire life depends on it this ability. It is his natural way of seeking food. in common with the squirrel, perhaps, which goes around all summer burying nuts and seeds. He has no knowledge of where he puts them and when winter comes he has to go sniffing all over the area again to locate his hidden stores ...or those hidden by other squirrels. The mine sniffing project puts the natural instinct of the rat to good use.
Feel sorry for the rat? Is this cruel treatment of animals? Far less, one might say, than lab work done on thousands of rats. The rat does not like the explosive materials as food, so he does not attempt to dig up the land min he has found. None knows, for sure, how the rats will act under broader conditions. Trainers are pretty sure that if a rat is released on its own on more than an acre or so of land, he or she will wander off and be lost, so a thin wire leash must be used, at least to start with, in field operations which are supposed have been started by this time.
Watch the news for the role of the rat. His work may well go unreported.
A.L.M.. August 2, 2003 [c497wds]
