First Pigs, Now Rats

Found this on Slashdot:

> TRAINED RAT USED TO STRING COMPUTER CABLES

> Rattie, Judy Reavis's trained rat, is being used to string computer
cables
> in hard-to-reach places in California school buildings. The rat
clenches
> string in its teeth, and then follows the path of least resistance
inside
> the walls, along ceiling panels and under floors. The rat goes to an
exit
> point identified by tapping sounds and is rewarded with cat food.
Computer
> cable is attached to the string and pulled through the path used by
the
> rat. Dr. Reavis, a biophysicist and physician, was volunteering for
NetDay
> 2000, the school computer project, when a co-worker mentioned a failed
> effort to train a rat in wiring. Dr. Reavis thought of her adopted
> laboratory rat and built a maze of plastic pipe in her Benecia,
California,
> home to train the rat. It took about 20 minutes a day for three months
to
> train Rattie to negotiate the maze, avoid dead ends, and travel toward
> tapping sounds.
>
> Frederick Rose, "Need an Electrician? Here's One Who Works Both
> Fast and Cheap" The Wall Street Journal, May 6, 1997, B1
Received on Thu Mar 18 18:32:00 2004