For most of us, rats evoke more of a shudder than a feeling of appreciation.  But, as this short piece from The Week, December 12, 2008, points out, rats have some assets worth valuing.–April Moore

     “They may not be cute and cuddly, but rats have become man’s new best friend, says The Boston Globe. 

     “Because they spend their lives foraging for food, rats have supersensitive noses, which scientists have learned to utilize in two new lifesaving projects in Africa. 

     “In Mozambique, giant rats have been trained to sniff out thousands of land mines left from pervious conflicts.  The rats’ “noses are far more sensitive than all current mechanical vapor detectors,” says Harvard Bach, a mine-clearing specialist with an international aid organization. 

     “Unlike dogs, rats are so light-footed that they do not trigger land mines.  Their amazing success in detecting mines may lead them to be employed in other regions in Africa, as well as in Asia and
Europe, where millions of mines that remain buried from previous wars kill and maim thousands of people each year.

     “In Tanznia, the rat’s sense of smell is being used as a medical testing device:  they sniff saliva samples for traces of tuberculosis.  The animals are able to identify early-stage infections that may not be found by a microscope. 

     “Rats get a bad rap, says Alberto Jorge Chambe, a rat handler for the Mozambique project, but they’re smarter and friendlier than you might think–and far less expensive than trained dogs.

     “Rats are usually considered pests or enemies of humanity,” Chambe says.  “But rats are helping my country escape the shadow of death.”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Insights and Visions on the State of the Earth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.