Bart Weetjens has been running a unique lab in Tanzania for the past seven years, where he trains rats to sniff out deadly unexploded land mines — the legacy of countless bloody conflicts.
Although dogs have traditionally been used to help humans detect mines, Weetjens realized that rats are lighter, cheaper to maintain and less susceptible to tropical disease.
He says, “I’ve always felt a very strong bonding with rodents,”
In Hero Rats, FRONTLINE/World reporter Alexis Bloom accompanies Weetjens to work in Mozambique to watch his trained rodents in action. She also visits a school there that was cleared of land mines with the help of the rats, allowing the children to resume their education and play without fear of stepping on a mine.
“They save human lives,” Weetjens says of the rats, "and, yes, they are heroes, actually."
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Tags: rat, rats, landmine
If you only know rats as pests, you may wonder how anyone ever thought to keep them as pets. But many of their natural qualities made rats suitable for domestication. In fact, you have more in common with rats than you might realize.
Why consider a rat as a pet?
"Compared to many other rodent species, such as mice and gerbils, rats are highly social creatures," said Aaron Blaisdell, a professor of psychology at UCLA, who studies cognition in rats and pigeons. They're also smarter than you think.
Rats also share our ability to be lifelong learners. Their varied diet in the wild means that they can take advantage of many different food sources.
But brains aren't everything, and rats are clearly loved mainly for their affectionate nature. The only disadvantage mentioned repeatedly was their short lifespan, which is 2 to 3 years.
Any rat owners here? Leave a comment so other rat lovers can know you and make friends.
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Janet Crystal of Cambridge, Mass., says part of why she loves rats is "because they're the underdog. I'll show someone a picture and they'll say, 'Oh that's cute, is that a hamster?' I tell them it's a rat and then they say 'eeuw.' The picture didn't change."
"They are, if I only had one word to use, it would be sweet," says Crystal. "They are incredibly affectionate."
"More than most other small pets you can have, rats are much like small dogs in the sense that they WANT to be with their family all the time, and love human contact," she says.
The words "sweet" and "cute" may seem out of place. But domestic rats don't act like street rats — as Crystal says, "It's like comparing a dog to a wolf" — and they don't look like them either. Breeders have come up with many variations: different colours and coat types, and dumbo rats, whose ears are lower on the sides of their heads.
"When I come home from class they run to the walls of the cage and jump up and hold onto the bars with their little paws and I'll scratch their tummies and ears," says McCarthy.
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Firefighters trying to put out a huge fire at an apartment in the southeastern Idaho town were amazed to see a live rat huddled in a charred cage, the AHN website reported.
After being rescued, Halo the rat received oxygen with a special cone-shaped animal resuscitation mask.
Halo was not the only lucky one rescued from blaze. Firefighters also rescued four of five cats in the apartment.
No one was home at the time of the fire, which officials blamed on an electrical fault.
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Celebrities who love rats and think rats are great pets.
It would help create awareness to the public that rats are actually one of the cleanest and least smelly pets.
Nicole Richie said:"Rats make great pets, they're cute and when they nibble on you and crawl on your shoulders, they're fun."
Nicole also adds:"My mother freaks out about my rats and is always trying to make me get rid of them because I am obsessed with them, but I love them and so does Paris."
Nicole Richie gave Paris Hilton a pet rat, named Tori Spelling, for Christmas.
Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, Clint Eastwood, Jamie Lee Curtis, Pink are rats owners.
Kim Basinger's eight-year-old daughter, Ireland, also owns a rat named Nibbles.
Historical figures who are big fans of rats include author Beatrix Potter and US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt who had a male 'piebald' and two kangaroo rats.
Things are certainly looking positive for pet rats.
More celebrities who keep rats.
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Lots of pet rats having fun! I like the one which actually plays with the pebble like a ball. Adorable!
Rats are amazingly smart, very affectionate to people, and a lot of fun to have around.
I had a friend who asked me what kind of pet she could get for her daughter, not a cat or dog, but something smaller.
She wondered if a hamster would be nice, or maybe gerbils would be better? I said that while either of those are OK, my personal preference for the absolute best pocket pet would be a rat. She was horrified.
"A rat! Why would I want one of those in my house?"
"Have you ever known a rat?" I asked her.
"Of course not!" she replied.
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