From Ananova: Experts train rats to sniff out landmines.
Posted on August 4, 2003 08:22 AM. Filed under: animals, insects, etc.Giant rats are being trained to sniff out landmines in Tanzania.
Their trainers at Tanzania's Sokoine University of Agriculture say the African pouched rats can do a much better job than dogs.
Christophe Cox is the Belgian co-ordinator of a project that is training 300 rats to locate mines by recognising the smell of dynamite and TNT.
He said: "Rats are good, clever to learn, small, like performing repeated tasks and have a better sense of smell than dogs."
One reason the animals are useful in detecting mines is that despite their description as "giant" rats, they are small enough, about 30 inches long to scamper across a minefield without setting off the charges. [continue]