Rats with backpacks could help rescue earthquake survivors

[Pivo]

“Rats are typically quite curious and like to explore – and that is key for search and rescue,” says Donna Kean, a behavioral research scientist and leader of the project.
May have application for cave and avalanche rescues too?
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/world/se ... index.html

[xsproutx]

All well and good until you get the ultralight nerd rat who decides he can save a gram leaving the camera lens behind.
Jokes aside, I worked alongside a test program in the military at one point that was testing using cats in two capacities: one team was testing out their usage in detecting IEDs and UXOs and the other for more of a SAR capacity like this in buildings. It was pretty interesting to see because I'd never seen a cat before who gave a feces for anything/one but itself but these guys were something else. Definitely had more success with explosives, as I recall. Maybe that's just a further sign of their selfishness: saving someone in rubble does nothing for a cat but stopping something from exploding certainly could.

[rcorfman]

@xsproutx
The explosive stuff makes sense for cats since they have nine lives.

[xsproutx]

@rcorfman

[Addryn]

Interesting information. We should pay more attention to our great nature!