Basketball rats

October 22, 2008 8:34 AM

Basketball rats. So the folks at the Finnish Science Centre Heureka have trained rats to play basketball.
Any tame rat can learn to play basketball, but brave rats which are relaxed playing in front of an enthusiastic audience will be the best professionals!
Video here and more here. Via TrueHoop.
posted by i_cola (18 comments total)

With the amount of food they seem to be getting for playing and the total lack of defence, I can see an opening for Eddy Curry now he's failed to make the starting line up of Mike D'Antoni's new look Knicks.
posted by i_cola at 8:35 AM on October 22, 2008

Call me when they can play hockey.
posted by carfullofpandas at 8:37 AM on October 22, 2008

That is really not nearly as awesome as I imagined.
posted by parmanparman at 8:38 AM on October 22, 2008

Beat me to the NY Knicks joke, i_cola. Solid work.
posted by Mister_A at 9:00 AM on October 22, 2008

Dude that was totally a walk!!
posted by Mister_A at 9:01 AM on October 22, 2008

The ones in the second video seem to have figured out (or been inadvertently trained to) take turns scoring unopposed goals. It may also be a natural result of the one-on-one with 2 goals setup. With two players on a side or with only a single goal, I expect the game would be more interesting.
posted by jedicus at 9:04 AM on October 22, 2008

I think I originally saw the hold-on-to-the-ball-and-send-your-whole-body-through-the-hoop trick in a Harlem Globetrotters cartoon. Or maybe it was Bugs Bunny.
posted by yhbc at 9:11 AM on October 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

The problem with a single goal is ....

BLOOD ON THE COURT.

Then it becomes gladiator mice.
posted by The Whelk at 9:17 AM on October 22, 2008

Then it becomes gladiator mice.

Give 'em some tiny boxing gloves and I fail to see the problem.
posted by jedicus at 9:20 AM on October 22, 2008

They can't dunk, but at least their fundamentals are solid.
posted by boo_radley at 9:40 AM on October 22, 2008

The NBA should require that all players should have to jump through the hoop to score (as in the second video).
[insert joke here about jumping through hoops for cute grad students]
[slam-dunk of a find]
posted by not_on_display at 9:43 AM on October 22, 2008

They have had rats playing basketball at the COSI in Columbus since I was a little kid...
posted by thejanna at 10:24 AM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

The NBA should require that all players should have to jump through the hoop to score.
As a Knicks fan I would heartily endorse this. Nate Robinson is probably the only player in the league who could do it.
posted by i_cola at 11:20 AM on October 22, 2008

Follow-up study: White rats can't jump.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:06 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Look Around You: Obesity

An experiment was conducted in which rats were trained to score baskets for a food reward. After 21 points were scored, the rats were no long able to reach the basket, due to the amount of food inside them. We therefore conclude that obesity prevents rats from exercising.

Write that in your copybooks now.
posted by salishsea at 12:20 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

I have been looking for a reason to go there. I now have it.

I shall visit and report back on this stunning scientific breakthrough.
posted by Lord_Pall at 12:30 PM on October 22, 2008

I've been to Heureka a number of times and I'd say it compares well with other children's science museums I've been to, like the Museum of Science, Boston. Heureka's smaller, of course, but if you're in the neighborhood and like science, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
posted by Richard Daly at 12:58 PM on October 22, 2008

What thejanna said. I left Columbus when I was 12, but this post brought those Saturday afternoons at COSI right back.
posted by sy at 3:39 PM on October 22, 2008