Having owned mice, or been owned by mice, or something, I laughed a lot at this...it's amazing what a small animal with a lot of determination can accomplish.
Have you read any of the articles on rats being trained in search-and-rescue? My husband and I, who have had rat colonies, talked about how successful they would be at that kind of thing long before it started showing up in the news.
I've seen them (at least the larger version from Africa) trained to sniff out mines, explosives and even TB. Rats would be GREAT at search and rescue except for the whole neophobia things. They can be hard to convince to explore a place they have never been in. But once they are comfortable and feel safe, not a crumb of bread or tiny speck of paper in a corner goes unoticed ... that and their incredible ability to get into small space ... as evidenced by the many "pants invasion" I've been subjected to.
Though I'm not sure how they would notify that they have found something. I think dogs sit or paw and such but if they want to use rats to go inside the rubbles, then they would have to find a way to let their trainer know that they have found somebody.
The ones who are trained for rubble-finding work are actually fitted with little brain implants and radios.
They're trained to associate "smell of human in the maze" with "I will be fed now". They're released into the "maze" of wreckage, and as they get excited, their brains automatically notify the home base of their current location.
Sounds like my rats. Last night I was cooking something for them and I had to pull them from my legs and shirt about 20 times. I need to start wearing pants made of a material that provides less traction
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-31 01:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-31 06:35 pm (UTC)*goes off to train a cute furry bank robbing army*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-31 08:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-01 08:39 am (UTC)Though I'm not sure how they would notify that they have found something. I think dogs sit or paw and such but if they want to use rats to go inside the rubbles, then they would have to find a way to let their trainer know that they have found somebody.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-01 09:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-01 02:19 pm (UTC)They're trained to associate "smell of human in the maze" with "I will be fed now". They're released into the "maze" of wreckage, and as they get excited, their brains automatically notify the home base of their current location.
It's experimental, but very cool.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-01 09:26 pm (UTC)