Hoop-shooting rats score points with museum crowd

Four-legged hoopsters with long tails delight fans at this weekend's Surf 'n' Turf celebration at the Science Museum of Virginia.

By COLLETTE CAPRARA

Date published: 3/3/2005

For THE FREE LANCE-STAR

With single-minded concentration, the player's eyes are trained on the hoop. With a triumphant swoosh, the ball clears the hoop--followed by the player.

This fantastic move, the "body dunk," is a specialty of the team now featured at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond. Never witnessed in the NBA, the move is a signature mark of the RBA--Rat Basketball Association.

That's right, the museum's current stars of the court are rambunctious rodents, trained for months by gallery educator Leeanna Pletcher.

Rat basketball, now a permanent museum exhibit, will be part of this weekend's Surf 'n' Turf Days activities.

Events include the opportunity to touch a live horseshoe crab and nurse shark, meet other marine creatures, snuggle a soft rabbit, cheer on Smithfield the Painting Pig, learn how a beekeeper collects honey, and, of course, take in some rat basketball.

All the four-legged sports stars are female, and fans can identify each by its unique color.

Staley, the newest player, is grayish blue. Mrs. Frisbee is a Rex rat with white, frizzy hair and a champagne-colored "hood." Swoopes has a white body and brown hood. Teasley is brown.

According to Pletcher, the idea for the game is based on the research of psychologist B.F. Skinner, the father of operant conditioning.

Skinner's theory was that teaching was possible by linking behavior to consequences. For the museum rats, this means grabbing a small wiffle ball, dunking it through the hoop, and receiving a treat.

"Rats are natural jumpers so they can jump quite high," Pletcher said. "The game can get very competitive, since there is food involved!"

Teasley, for example, has become such a deft defensive player, she steals the ball from the other rats.

The gallery where the rat-players perform seats 20, but as many as 75 people have watched a game, with an audience overflow pressed against the windows.

Fans cheer on their favorite players as trainers narrate the court action. Trainers also use the basketball demonstrations as opportunities to teach such concepts as learning theory and genetics.

"Many people come in with a great fear of rats, so we dispel the myths," Pletcher said. "After the show, I hold a rat so that people can pet it if they want to, and overcome their fears."

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Date published: 3/3/2005