Extensive trade of red-listed animal species threatened by extinction is still ongoing. But now, Gambian giant rats can challenge the smugglers. A research group has trained the rats to recognize the smell of rhino horn, ivory, and pangolin scales.
The rats, some named after famous animal friends like Irwin, Attenborough, and Fossey, have been trained at Apopo, an organization that develops low-cost and low-tech solutions to humanitarian challenges.
The trained rats were not only able to find animal parts when they were hidden among electrical cables, coffee beans, and laundry detergent but also recognize the smell of them even if they hadn't encountered them for a long time.
The equipment available for screening is expensive and time-consuming, and there is a need to screen more cargo. The rats can easily access narrow spaces or be lifted up to search ventilation systems in sealed containers, says Isabelle Szott, one of the researchers behind the study published in Frontiers in Conservation Science.
The next step will be to develop methods for the rats to work in harbors and other environments where there is smuggling of endangered species.
For example, they will be equipped with specially designed vests with a small ball on the chest that the rat can pull to alert the handler when they've found something of interest.
The organization Apopo has since the early 1990s trained Gambian giant pouched rats to detect landmines.
Giant pouched rats are larger than regular rats, between 65 and 90 centimeters including tail, but still light enough not to trigger a mine if they accidentally step on it.
They have also proven skilled at detecting tuberculosis since they were trained to recognize the bacterial smell of the disease. They are 68 percent better than the most common microscope technique for making tuberculosis diagnoses, especially on children, according to a Tanzanian study.
The rats have come to be called "hero rats". In 2020, Magawa became the first rat to be awarded the PDSA gold medal for his "life-saving devotion to duty".
