[BITList] What a little rat can do

[Michael Feltham]

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>  Before you reach for the Warfarin, watch this......... 
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> Throughout the world, places that have been involved in war and/or civil strife often have large minefields that still need clearing.  In 2013, it was estimated that there was a global average of around nine mine-related deaths every day.  The situation is especially dire in Africa. 
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> Typically, clearing a minefield involves men in body armor walking in very precise lines with metal detectors.  Anything (from a rusty nail to an old ammo cartridge) that sets the detectors off must be investigated before moving on.  A new method of bomb detection using rats, however, is flipping this                    process on its head.  A Belgian NGO called APOPO has developed a way to train African pouched rats (named for the storage pouch in their cheeks) to sniff out bombs quickly and safely. 
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> They used this rat because it has an incredibly fine-tuned sense of smell and a long lifespan (8-9 years) to yield returns on the nine months of training they undergo. 
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> They're called Hero Rats, and not one
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> has died in the line of duty since the program started in 1997. 
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> The average mine requires 5 kg (roughly 11 pounds)
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> of weight to trigger an explosion,
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> but even the biggest of these rats
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> are only around 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds). 
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> Since they're trained to sniff out explosives exclusively,
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> they aren't distracted by other metal objects
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> the way human minesweepers are. 
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> They can effectively search 200 square meters
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> in less than 20 minutes. 
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> A team of humans would need
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> around 25 hours to do the same job. 
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> Since they're in the African sun a lot,
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> the Hero Rats get sunscreen to keep them cancer free. 
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> If a rat does get cancer,
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> it receives full medical treatment. 
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> The rats are "paid" in avocados, peanuts,
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> bananas and other healthy treats. 
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> After about 4-5 years on the job
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> (or whenever they lose interest in working),
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> they're allowed to retire. 
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> Retirement consists of eating all the tasty fruit
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> their little hero heart’s desire. 
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