Useful animals

THE CHINGCHOK Hunter

Humans have domesticated animals for centuries and have used dogs, horses and other animals for various purposes to make life easier. Recently, how humans use the unique abilities of animals has moved to a whole new level.

Canines

Dogs have been used to hunt badgers, rats, hares and more. They are used as retrievers, guard dogs and even as accessories to be "worn" on your arm or in your handbag, but they are also being put to many other incredible uses in our modern world.

Dogs are obviously renowned for their sense of smell, and this super sense is being utilised in a whole range of tasks. Dogs used at airports to sniff for illegal drugs is one example.

In many airports, dogs are a common sight in the luggage concourse, where they patrol the rows of bags as they sniff for drugs. And if you even have a trace of an illegal drug in your bag, the dogs will smell it. There is no escape. No technology can replace a dog's nose.

A dog's sense of smell is hundreds, if not thousands, of times better than that of humans, and it is their primary sense, with the bloodhound being the best "smeller" in the dog world. This incredible sense is used to detect the presence of flammable substances, which can aid in the fire investigator's determination of whether the fire resulted from arson.

They can also detect bombs or explosive devices and thus prevent potential disasters. Also, after a building collapse or a natural disaster, such as an avalanche or an earthquake, dogs are used to sniff out people and rescue survivors or retrieve bodies. A dog's ability to sniff out hundreds of targeted scents is truly remarkable!

It is not only sniffer dogs, though, that are useful. Guide dogs have been used for centuries, wherein blind or visually impaired people use dogs to help them lead independent lives. They are now also used for deaf people, wherein hearing dogs alert the owners to sounds such as doorbells, fire alarms and other important noises that you and I take for granted.

The uses of dogs are seemingly endless. From tracking criminals or lost people, herding sheep and hunting animals, finding truffles, pulling sleds, guarding property, or simply being an unconditional friend, it is no wonder why they are called man's and woman's best friend.

Rodents

You may wonder what on earth rats can do to help humans, but their uses are numerous. Rats are the subjected to countless laboratory experiments in the effort of improving the lives of humans. Scientific studies on rats have led to major breakthroughs in the treatment of many human medical conditions, such as heart disease, cancer and drug addictions.

One amazing use of rats, and my favourite example of animal deployment, is to detect landmines. In Tanzania and Mozambique, there are hundreds of thousands of unexploded landmines, and the local rat species is being put to good use in their detection.

Because of the low body weight of the African Pouched Rat - Cricetomys gambianus - deminers use them to locate the landmines. Their light body weight allows them to do their job without setting off the mines!

When they detect a landmine, they sniff and scratch in its vicinity. Their handlers, who have the rats on a lead, reel them in and give them a banana treat, and the mine is soon safely removed.

And the great thing with using rats is that they are quicker to train than dogs and can be transferred from handler to handler easier than dogs. They are remarkably clever and versatile animals. It is a shame that rats in general have such a negative reputation.

Dolphins

Second to humans, dolphins have the largest brain-to-body-size ratio, meaning they are very intelligent, and therefore very useful to humans. One use is in treating depression sufferers in a programme known as dolphin-assisted therapy. Studies have shown that dolphins are very effective in helping people deal with their psychological problems.

Another use, although controversial, is in the military. The US Navy has a Navy Marine Mammal Programme, which uses bottlenose dolphins and Californian sea lions to carry out various military tasks.

A major use is the location of underwater mines. Using their echolocation, they can detect mines, tag them and then report back to their handlers. They are much more efficient than human divers. They were used for this purpose in the Vietnam and Iraq wars and were reportedly very effective.

They are also used to recover objects in the sea, especially those at great depths. Plane crashes or boat wrecks may contain important artefacts, and due to the dolphins' ability to dive to great depths, they are more useful than human divers.

In the US Navy's ship and harbour protection programme, marine mammals are trained to put a tag on an enemy diver by placing a device onto the back of the enemy diver's air tank. The device is attached to a buoy, which floats to the surface, alerting the Navy personnel to the potential danger and the intruder's location. As they are so fast and agile, dolphins can avoid being attacked themselves.

Although there are rumours of "suicide" dolphins that can be used to blow up enemy vessels, these rumours have not been substantiated, and I certainly hope they aren't true.

Elephants

These majestic pachyderms have been especially useful to people here in Thailand for centuries. They were used as dreaded mounts in the wars between Thailand and Burma, and the elephant's strength is legendary. Logging elephants can lift about 700kg and drag well over a tonne, and are therefore used in moving, felling and transporting logs.

They are also incredibly intelligent and can learn many commands, which makes them very versatile. Nowadays, elephants are mainly used in tourism, which, when conducted thoughtfully, is a very worthwhile revenue-generating activity. Sadly, many of the shows are not very elephant-friendly and their activities are not in the elephants' best interests.

There are countless other animals that aid humans, and the aforementioned are merely a sample of the versatility, adaptability and usefulness of animals in our lives. Quite simply, we couldn't live without them.

Dave Canavan has an MSc in Behavioural Ecology and is the Head of Secondary at Garden International School. Dave is fascinated by science and loves animals, especially the dangerous kind! You may contact Dave at davidc@gardenbangkok.com .