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Rats with backpacks could help rescue earthquake survivors


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By Rebecca Cairns, CNN
Earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes can cause enormous damage to infrastructure and trap people inside collapsed buildings. A new project from Belgian non-profit APOPO is training rodents to search the rubble of disaster zones for survivors, and kitting them out with tiny, high-tech backpacks to help first responders communicate with them.
The rats are trained by having them search for a human target in a room -- a stand-in for the victim. The training started with a simple search, find, recall sequence in an empty room, but the team has gradually increased the complexity of the environments, says Donna Kean, a behavioral research scientist and leader of the project. 
 
 
 
 
These rats with backpacks are training to rescue earthquake survivors
Earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes can cause enormous damage to infrastructure and trap people inside collapsed buildings. A new project from Belgian non-profit APOPO is training rodents to search the rubble of disaster zones for survivors, and kitting them out with tiny, high-tech backpacks to help first responders communicate with them.
 
 
 
 
we love them again!

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Quite iconic if you ask me

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Rats are legends :jonnycat:

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Rats should takeover the earth as the dominant species tbh

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imagine being stuck under rubble and a rat walks in and starts filming you , that'd be the final nail in the coffin for me tbh . heart attack!

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ICONIC..

 

They're everywhere, might as well make use of them

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My first instinct would probably be to kick it :skull: 

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18 minutes ago, May said:

imagine being stuck under rubble and a rat walks in and starts filming you , that'd be the final nail in the coffin for me tbh . heart attack!

But what if the rat starts cooking a 5 course French meal right in front of you? 

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Just now, Gorgeous said:

But what if the rat starts cooking a 5 course French meal right in front of you? 

i just google image searched 'rat cooking meal' to find a funny pic/gif to reply to this and im traumatised :rip:

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8 minutes ago, May said:

i just google image searched 'rat cooking meal' to find a funny pic/gif to reply to this and im traumatised :rip:

you sure?

 

21a.jpg 

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47 minutes ago, Gorgeous said:

But what if the rat starts cooking a 5 course French meal right in front of you? 

I throw him a bad review. 

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I'd rather die under the rubbles than let those things touch me. Thank you though.

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Soooo cute

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It takes a rat to save a man. The prophecy is real.

 

Rattata is also a based Pokémon.

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I kinda love this lmao. Rats (when free of diseases and domesticated) are quite cute.

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i would have a heart attack on the spot.

Rats and me just dont vibe like that

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the replies in here omg :bibliahh:

 

this will make for an Oscar winning movie plot line when they actually save ppl tho.

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What about the people that have rat phobias

E48E1170-15DD-45E3-AC4A-A42A0DC7CD90.thu

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Let's hand out the job application forms.

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The pics are sending me.

:lmao: 
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A rat with a GoPro filming me as I lay dying under debris is certainly my idea of help 

 

When a cat with a GoPro kills it on the way

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Real life rat version of The Rescuers! Its looks so cute lol.

 

Poor people scared of rats tho :dies:

Edited by Subzero
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Rats more useful than humans :clap3:

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