Rats were Trained as Trackers Landmine in Colombia

BOGOTA - In a laboratory owned by the police, 11 white rats to wait its turn to impress the coach and maybe get a prize.

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Rodents it now has an important role to make the Colombian conflict to be safe. The mice are now being trained to find landmines that have killed and injured hundreds of people each year.

Government project that began in 2006 has trained rats to detect the metal used for thousands of landmines that have been used during the conflict with my left.

Colombian scientists decided to use a mouse, like a dog that has traditionally been able to detect the presence of landmines, the rats had increased ability to smell it. Another reason is because the body of mice that light, so it will not blow up the mines.

As reported by Reuters on Thursday (24.11.2011), the rats were previously trained to obey voice commands and recognize the specific odor of the metal used for the mines.

Landmines are providing a new problem for national security, approximately 63 percent of landmine victims were from the military and police officers.

The Colombian government has said that they had cleared the land area of ​​10 hectares in 2010, but only found 194 explosive devices. (RHS)

Adapted from Okezone