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> Magawa retired from bomb sniffing in June 2021 owing to his old age, as is standard for APOPO's HeroRATs. > He spent a number of weeks mentoring 20 newly-rec
by dtsykunov 6mo ago
> Magawa retired from bomb sniffing in June 2021 owing to his old age, as is standard for APOPO's HeroRATs.
> He spent a number of weeks mentoring 20 newly-recruited rats before ultimately retiring to a life of "snacking on bananas and peanuts".
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magawa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magawa
End to life worthy of being envied.
- caseyohara 6mo agoI love that Magawa's wikipedia article is structured just like a human: Early Life, Career, Retirement and Death. A few weeks ago when "Croatia declared free of landmines after 31 years" was posted here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47189535 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47189535), I rabbit holed wikipedia about landmine-sniffing animals. It's such a fascinating topic.
- beAbU 6mo agoJust missing the "controversies" and "personal life" sections!
- frereubu 6mo ago"Alleged embezzlement of soft fruit"
- SilentM68 6mo agoAh, RatKablooey. Yeah, that’s the nickname they gave the old bomb-sniffing rat. Guy was a legend… or at least, that’s what the reports said. His “bomb count” was so high, even the military started double-checking the math when his stats became too explosive for the spreadsheet. Rumor has it that half the “bombs he found” were just suspiciously shaped cheese wrappers. Retired with a medal, a tiny cape, and a lifetime supply of peanuts. Still shows up at reunions, mostly to argue about the “official count,” and reminisce with his old field commander, Agent Cody Banks.
- gavmor 6mo agoHow does one rat mentor another?
- dtsykunov 6mo agoMy guess, first they send them links to confluence wiki.
- thinkingtoilet 6mo agoRats are intelligent social mammals. They teach by actions. Imagine training a dog. You have two dogs, one trained and one not. You say "sit" and the trained dog sits and you give it a treat. The non-trained dog will quickly pick up on that.
- sonofhans 6mo agoYou can teach a kid to change a tire without saying a word. It’s the same thing. Rats are very smart and very social. Rats that were good at teaching Rathood to their little ones had more that survived. Put food in a maze and I’m sure rats would teach other rats how to get it. I expect this is similar.
- lostlogin 6mo agoOur dog learned to find tennis balls by smell off a dog that was good at it. This was after me one walk with this dog. Every trip to the park got us a few. Then he ate one and have himself a bowel obstruction and me a great enthusiasm for pet insurance.
- cobbzilla 6mo ago8 years is an extraordinarily long lifespan for a rat, isn’t it? And he got a lot done!!