By Dean Murray via SWNS
Rats with tiny backpacks are being used to sniff out illegally trafficked wildlife items.
African giant pouched rats have been trained to recognize the scent of illegal animal parts such as elephant tusks, rhino horns and pangolin scales.
The rodents have previously been used to detect explosives and tuberculosis, but a new scientific study has proved them successful in detecting illicit articles being smuggled.
Sixteen rats were trained to detect wildlife products inside shipping containers. The proof-of-principle phase saw them identifying commonly trafficked wildlife items while working in a controlled laboratory setting.
It was proved the rats could be trained to detect items such as pangolin scales and threatened African hardwood, even when hidden among other “smelly items” used by smugglers to conceal their presence.
The rodents were reported as quickly learning to wear a vest and trigger an electronic microswitch to remotely indicate when they had located a wildlife target while working in a mock port environment.
Upon finding items, they were rewarded with a food syringe loaded with avocado, banana, and crushed chow pellets.
All research was conducted at APOPO’s Training and Research Headquarters in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Researchers said: “Rats have low training and maintenance costs, flexibly work with multiple handlers, have a long lifespan, and a sophisticated sense of smell. Their small size also offers unique capabilities for the screening of shipping containers, such as being able to navigate densely packed areas or be lifted to assess contents of sealed containers by screening ventilation systems.”
The research report says the rats could now be assessed for operational feasibility of being deployed at ports.
The study “Ratting on wildlife crime: training African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife” is published in Frontiers in Conservation Science.
