Ever wondered about animals with unusual jobs?

When people think about working animals, what often comes to mind are dogs that herd sheep, horses that work on farms and animals that perform in movies. But there are lots of other jobs animals have had over the years.  Dogs are much more sensitive to smell than humans. This made dogs the traditional hunting companion, enabling their owners to track foxes and other game. Police departments have taken advantage of this skill to help find missing people and escaped convicts. Recently, dogs have been trained to use their super-sniffers to find illegal drugs, explosives and even hidden computer equipment. There is a bird in the southeast African nation of Mozambique called the honey­guide, which has developed a mutually beneficial relationship with a tribe called the Yao. If a Yao tribesman makes a certain chirping sound, the honeyguide will fly from tree to tree directing the tribesman to a hidden beehive. Once discovered, the humans break open the hive for honey, and the birds feast on wax. Ferrets are cute, furry animals in the weasel family that range in size from 1½ to four pounds. They have helped humans for centuries. About 2,000 years ago, ancient Romans trained ferrets to flush rabbits out of their burrows to feed their troops. European settlers who came to America used them to keep rodents under control. More recently, people have taken advantage of a ferret’s natural instinct to run through tight spaces. Pipe-running ferrets wear a special harness that enables them to pull a string through hundreds of feet of pipe. The string is then used to pull cables and computer wires through the pipe.