Pictures: Five hard-working animals with weird jobs
- Published
We have all seen a goat before, they are the rubbish disposal of the animal world because they will literally eat ANYTHING! Their ability to eat pretty much any plant is being put to good use as animal landscape gardeners, from clearing up after hurricanes to keeping a special cemetery clean. A Japanese apartment complex has become the latest to use goats to keep on top of the grass around the building, Goat-aly unbelievable, isn't it?
It isn't just goats who are used to keep land nice and tidy. Llamas are pretty good groundskeepers as well! This llama is one of several that helps to keep the grassy areas near runways at Chicago's busy O'Hare airport clear of tall grass. But it isn't just about keeping things looking tidy. Keeping the grass short also stops the areas becoming a breeding ground for small rodents that attract hawks and other birds of prey, which could then cause problems for flights coming in and out. No drama with this llama.
Dolphins are pretty clever, that's for sure. In fact the sea creatures are said to be one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. So no surprise that some resourceful scientists at the US Navy decided to try and train the dolphins to help detect things like explosives in water. The Navy Marine Mammal Program at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, California trains 85 dolphins and 50 sea lions. Weird, but ingenious!
How do you get a cable or wire down through a really small space? Ok, so there are a few ways you can do it, but one way to do it is with a ferret! The small creatures are great at getting into hard-to-reach places like pipes. With a cable attached to a special vest, the animal can quickly run through cables. They have been used widely, but in recent years robots are being used more and more, mainly because they don't get bored and go to sleep in the middle of a pipe...
So, do you know what a maggot is? Well, it is a baby fly and kind of like a caterpillar - but maybe not as pretty. And guess what, they use these little critters in the medical world to get rid of dead skin around wounds. That's right, these small things are used because they love nothing better than munching down on dead and infected skin - yuck! The bugs are especially great at treating wounds infected with a particular bacteria called MRSA, which are resistant to usual treatments.
- Published28 May 2017
- Published10 June 2017
