Researchers have previously trained giant African bag rats to sniff out tuberculosis and explosives. Now, they have expanded the rodents’ repertoire of scents to detect illegally traded animal parts such as pangolin scales, elephant ivory and rhino horn. report in Frontiers of conservation science.
To interrupt this,illegal trade Of course, that in itself is important. But people who smuggle animal parts often also smuggle drugs, people, and weapons. But why rats?
Rats as detection tools
They have an excellent sense of smell, are easy to learn, and live long lives. Unlike dogs, they can work with multiple handlers.
“That gives them a little bit of an advantage over scent detection dogs,” he says. kate webban assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center and author of the study. Then there’s cost. Training a typical detection rat takes about nine months and costs $6,000 to $8,000. Training a scent detection dog can cost between $10,000 and $30,000.
“We see rats as a very cost-effective detection tool,” Webb says.
Size is also a factor. Unlike dogs, rats can squeeze through the cracks and crevasses of container ships. You can lift it up high and smell the vents.
But perhaps most importantly, they are great at what they do. After training, the “proof of principal” study reported in this paper showed how superior it is. The eight rats were able to identify four commonly smuggled wild animals among 146 non-target substances, such as coffee, which is often used to mask the scent of contraband.
Rats also have an excellent memory for smells. They were able to recall the odors they were trained to detect months after their last exposure.
read more: Activity-detection dogs help conservation researchers sniff out data
rat training
Since their “proof of concept” training and testing, researchers have been testing them in a real-world environment: the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
“The rats performed very well in both cases,” Webb says.
In these more practical trials, researchers experimented with search strategies. Some of the rodents were on leashes. Some were lifted by elevator-like devices to access hard-to-reach areas. Some rats have learned to press a switch that beeps when they find a target.
The rats Kirsty, Marty, Attenborough, Irwin, Betty, Teddy, Ivory, Ebony, Desmond, Thoreau and Fosse went through several training stages. First, they learned to stick their noses into holes containing the target scent. They were then rewarded for sticking their noses into the scented and non-scented holes. They were then exposed to a number of non-target odors, odors used to mask the scent of illegally traded wildlife.
Finally, after five and eight months away from the scent they were trained to protect, they were tested again. Even after several months of odor loss, the rats showed scent retention as good as trained dogs.
read more: History of laboratory rats
Expanding your scent repertoire
Next steps include experimenting with different methods to detect a greater variety of scents in different environments. Because the animals are small and relatively cheap, Webb envisions stationing small rat patrols at airports and seaports. Each rat may have its own odor specialty. Some target drugs, while others target illegal animal parts.
What’s one of the biggest challenges in training? Webb says teaching humans not to be frightened by rodents has given them an unfair reputation. People are used to encountering sniffing dogs at airports. A rat? There aren’t that many.
It may take marketing efforts to change minds. “I think our rats are incredibly cute,” Webb says. “They have personality. They live long lives. You get very attached to them. And they do great, important work.”
read more: 6 animals attracted to strange scents
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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul spent more than 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life sciences policy and global scientist career issues. He started his career in newspapers but switched to scientific magazines. His research has appeared in publications such as Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
