From Gregory Sams
As I read through the article I kept expecting to come across one piece of information which was disturbingly absent from the report. By what means are the rats’ natural appetites suppressed?
The Editor replies:
• A number of readers have asked what the rescue rats will do on encountering a human body under rubble – in particular, whether they will start nibbling it? The researchers say they have found that even hungry rats will ignore buried sweetened cereal in favour of continuing to search for the target odour – a person – in anticipation of the reward of “several pulse trains” to their pleasure centre when they find it. In their tests, the team has not found it necessary to administer any aversive stimulation to prevent the rats taking a bite. They also consider that it would not be humane to do so.
London, UK
