or this giant rat...
You decide.
Posted on 09/08/2010 4:08:51 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
(CNN) -- Niko Mushi hated rats, as did most people in his village near Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro -- until he learned the critters had a nose for land mines.
Mushi, 32, has been working with giant African pouched rats for almost seven years. He now enjoys their company -- "They're just like my friend," he says -- but he concedes he was skeptical when the man who conceived the idea for HeroRats first told him they could sniff out live ordnance.
"I thought maybe he was making some jokes," Mushi said. "I was amazed that rats could do such a thing."
Before he started working with rats, Mushi had a comfortable job teaching the Kiswahili language at a Lutheran seminary. He was terrified when he first took one of his long-tailed protégés into a Mozambican minefield.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
or this giant rat...
You decide.
At least I’ll be replaced by a robot or outsourced to Calcutta.
It would have to be the top one. Barney’s nose has been in places no self-respecting sewer rat would even dream of going.
Yuch!
Be careful little buddy.
Cool story. There was no need to hijack it.
I think the U.S. military should let bawney skip along in front of our vehicles in Afghanistan and test out the theory that rats can sniff out explosives.
I bet that rat could take that leash off, if he wanted to.
No, there was no need to. But, I have found there isn't much need to do many of the more enjoyable things in life.
My Dad grew up in Wilkes Barre, PA and many of his relatives worked in the coal mines. Some of us were commenting one day about having to work in the cold and dark with the rats, and Dad said, “Oh no! The miners made friends with the rats and even fed them.”
Upon hearing our collective “WTF?” he enlightened us.
When part of the mine was about to cave in, the rats sensed it first and started running to safety. If the miners saw the rats running, they dropped whatever they were doing and ran with the rats. Many a life was saved that way.
A bit of a chilling tale, but a lesson for us kids. You never know who will turn out to be your best friend.
Good one.
Take note folks. When the Rats run from Obama, it’s a bad omen.
Interesting!
Giant pouched rats? We have them in Louisiana. We call them ‘possums.
“The Giant Rat of Sumatra”
The world is not yet prepared for that one....
Curb your rodent gunsel!
Rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist.
Well, I guess rats have made it on to the list of animals that are more useful than cats. Congratulations are in order!
Easily...pull one shoulder in, then the other, then back straight out.
I have used Pakistani Mine sweepers....funny stuff. They put their fingers in their ears an stomp the ground or whack it with bamboo poles. We used to call em Polish Mine sweeepers.....but Pakistani will do such for pennies a day....
Sandia also developed a microbe that eats HE yet it couldn’t get past the cases it was in like body of the UXO.
Rats find it yet.....can’t do anything to it. Tough to keep track of em in real mine fields.
Gimmicks in this work are developed by idgits that aren’t end users ...... KISS principal is best in EOD work. Or kiss yer ass gone.....
How do you know that, LOL?
It looks loose enough, and I’ve tried to use miniharnesses on small pets before :-)
If they wanted to play along they would, and if not, they’d give a shrug and a wiggle and be free.
You can take your pets to PETCO with you while you shop. I saw a cat there, with a thin 10-foot cotton string tied to its collar. That cat was totally controlled by that string.
Cute!
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