Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Rat For Your Family Refrigerator
Posted by Edith on Wed, Dec 19, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Rats aren't just gross and ratty, they can sometimes be helpful as well. Special rats in Africa have been trained to smell out landmines, thus facilitating their removal. Their sense of smell is "a million" times better than ours, plus they are cheap and small and simple. They're good at their job, but they (and their friends) also need money to keep it up. For the friend or family member who has everything except a rat in Tanzania they will never touch, you can Adopt a Hero Rat for about $7 a month (it says 5 Euros, that's a rough conversion). That gets you pictures of your rat, your rat's name (Rosie, Mercy, Posh, and Becks are featured on the site now), and updates from your rat's trainer on what's up with your rat, like what it's favorite activities are (eating, sniffing) and how many landmines they've been smelling. Either way, the website is cute and interesting. And if you want more, there's a neat PBS Frontline video on this website. From that video, I learned that the rats have to wear sunblock on their sensitive little ears when they go out in the sun looking for landmines. Aaaah. Little rats!
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