Rescue Rats Wearing Backpacks Trained to Save Lives
step up: 1. to take action in a time of need; 2. increase
Rats are stepping up to the challenge of saving lives. A non-profit organization called APOPO is training them to help during natural disasters.
APOPO, based in Tanzania, has been training rats for various purposes for over a decade. Their keen sense of smell has made them useful at detecting landmines and tuberculosis. Now, they are focusing on search and rescue. The project will harness the rats’ natural curiosity and excellent sense of smell to find survivors in disaster zones. Their small size will allow them to enter places that no human or rescue dog could fit.
The rats will wear backpacks with video cameras, two-way microphones, and location trackers to help find and communicate with people who are trapped.
Sample sentences
1. When there’s a crisis, it’s important for communities to step up and support each other.
2. I had to step up and take charge of the project when my manager was absent.
3. The team captain was injured, so I had to step up and lead the team to victory.
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