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Dutch Police Recruit Rats To Sniff Out Crime
An anonymous reader writes "Ratting someone out' just became much more literal. Dutch police are using trained rats to help keep the streets clean. 'Detective Derrick and his rat partners cost just £8 each and are capable of being trained to identify an impressive range of odors—including drugs and explosives—within ten to 15 days. In contrast, a police dog costs thousands of pounds and requires a minimum training period of eight months. The training procedure is straightforward: the rats are kept in a cage with four metal tea strainers attached inside, one of which contains gunpowder. When the rat recognizes the smell, it is rewarded with a "click" and a small treat. Eventually the rat will learn to move towards the smell instantly. In a demonstration it takes Derrick just two seconds to locate the offending odor."
I can see an animal arms race there.
Well, the obvious one:
"I can't believe you snitched on me, you dirty rat!"
That's just cheesy.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Commence rat jokes.
Bah, rat jokes are stupid, as opposed to generic rodent jokes. But don't expect me to beaver away at them so that you could just squirrel them.
Ezekiel 23:20
Has the procedure been rat-ified?
-- Make America hate again!
what as in no mine, no mine , no mine BOOOM!
That rat was only one week away from retirement.
Even dogs are getting outsourced now. :(