Africa has an anti-poaching plan. An army of giant rats in tailored vests ready for action

Using animals to solve problems is nothing new. There are many cases where humans have released creatures to eliminate pests or even save other species. As we’ve seen, this doesn’t always end well. However, Africa’s approach to fighting poaching is certainly innovative. This is a warning to sailors: an army of rats is coming. Giants.

Rats vs. smuggling. Giant African rats, known for their great ability to detect explosives and pathogens (such as the rat that causes tuberculosis), have a new mission: train them to identify the smell of endangered wildlife products Has gone.

In a recent study published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, a team of researchers tested the ability of these creatures to detect rhinoceros horn, ivory, pangolin scales, and African wood. What do they have in common? which are often subject to illegal trafficking due to their high value on the black market.

The best “antidote”. The researchers’ work indicates, or confirms, the ability of these mice to detect dangerous species even when they are hidden among other substances. According to researcher Isabelle Szot, co-author of the study, the experiment demonstrates that the creatures can accurately identify a large number of illegal products, making them an important contribution to the fight against wildlife trafficking.

Special training. There were 11 rats who received thorough olfactory training at the APOPO organization in Tanzania, which included several stages to refine their detection abilities. In the so-called “cue” phase, rats learned to place their noses in the hole with the target odor, and were rewarded if they did it correctly.

The rats were then exposed to an “undesirable odor” such as coffee beans or detergent, the same odors that smugglers often use to mask the scent of wildlife. This “discrimination phase” taught the creatures to ignore non-target odors and focus only on the endangered species. Furthermore, their olfactory retention abilities were tested after a period of five and eight months, thus demonstrating that their memory and cognitive retention was comparable to that of dogs.

Police vest. And here comes the reason for this “exclusive” training. The final idea is that the rats, once equipped with special custom-made jackets that allow the animals to activate warning signals when they detect a target, could be very useful in trafficking vital points such as the ports of Kenya and Tanzania. Can happen.

These jackets are designed to emit an audible signal that allows authorities to know when rats have detected a threatened wildlife product. APOPO, the organization behind this training, emphasizes that the use of rats is going to be a very efficient tool in terms of cost and time, unlike traditional detection methods, which are usually more expensive and require more resources. Is required.

Challenges and future applications. Although the preliminary results are very encouraging, the study indicates some limitations due to the controlled environment in which it was conducted. Before their deployment in real scenarios, there will be more testing phases that will focus on developing additional methods to adapt them to more complex trafficking contexts.

Not only this, the goal of this project is high. For researcher Kate Webb, given that wildlife trafficking is usually related to other criminal activities, such as drug trafficking or arms trafficking, the implementation of these rats could go even further and be an addition to the fight against those networks. Can be valuable resources that exploit both humans and nature.

Who would have thought, an army of giant rats could work in our favor in the fight against drug trafficking.

Image | apopo

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