The incredible works of animals

They can search an area the size of a tennis court in about 20 minutes. It would take us humans with metal detectors several days. The NGO APOPO trains rats to detect antipersonnel mines. This is just one of the amazing jobs of animals.

The giant African rat is also used to clear land mines. They are perfect for the job: long-lived, intelligent and very trainable. , large enough to handle large areas, but small enough to pass over a pressure-sensitive mine without activating it.

The incredible jobs of animals cannot be done even by robots.

Famous rats and ferrets

Rats smell the fumes of explosive substances such as TNT. APOPO says its rats have never failed to find a single mine in more than 25 years. They are called HeroRATs. They are now experimenting with their use in search and rescue missions.

In the United Kingdom there is a National Ferret Training School. He has an elite team of over 40 ferrets. Not only can they find blockages in pipes and drains. They can also lay high-speed fiber optic cables. A thin line is tied to the ferret's harness and goes like a hairy needle into the nooks and crannies. They can go very deep underground, or through cavities or behind false walls.

The most famous ferret was named Felicia. In 1971, the National Accelerator Laboratory. There was a problem. The long, narrow vacuum tubes that would form part of the accelerator needed to be perfectly clean of metal dust and debris. A speck of dust could interfere with the particle beams. Felicia was in charge of going through the tubes. He dragged a string that would later allow a swab with cleaner to be passed. She was in charge of solving the problem of scientists who investigated particle physics.

Assistance dogs fulfill multiple functions.

Dogs and skills

You may have heard of "oncology dogs," those that can detect cancer. Its reach goes much further: epilepsy, malaria, Parkinson's and even COVID-19. Dogs have 300 million sensory receptors. We humans have 5 million. If a human could detect a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of tea, a dog could detect it in two Olympic-size swimming pools of water.

These are just some of the amazing animal works. Medical assistance alert dogs are trained to raise the alarm when a medical emergency may occur. For example, they anticipate epileptic seizures. There are many other tasks that they do much better than any robot.