Scientists say their research shows the rats have a similar sense of smell to dogs, but they're able to fit in tighter spaces.
Researchers trained 11 rats to sniff out elephant tusk and rhino horn, even when smugglers used common tricks such as using coffee grinds and washing powder to conceal their scents.Scientists say the next step is to fit them with custom-made vests and deploy the animals at ports to detect smuggled wildlife.They are giant African pouch rats; an animal that has a sense of smell likened to sniffer dogs at airports.
"We were guided by two main factors in our choice of species: species that are commonly trafficked globally and more specifically out of East Africa, and what species we were able to obtain materials from in order to train the rats."Pitched as a "low-tech" solution to disrupting animal smuggling, it is an extension of the work the same researchers began in 2016, using the rats to sniff out explosives and a tuberculosis-causing pathogen.
"Their light weight makes it possible to lift them to higher locations for screening which, for wildlife detection, allows access to, for example, ventilation systems of shipping containers," Dr Webb said.Researchers taught them to hold their noses for several seconds in a hole, where a target scent was placed.
Dr Webb said it was a process of "discrimination", where the rats would learn to only signal the smells of the wildlife targets and ignore 146 other "non-target" substances.Australian wildlife is showing up around the world where it shouldn't. Now animal forensics, artificial intelligence and advanced science are combining to combat the trafficking of these creatures.
Researchers said existing screening tools were expensive and time intensive, while rats were a low-cost and effective alternative. "For example, you could envision detection dogs screening vast open areas or tracking poachers while rats screen container contents or specific packages.""We have already conducted operational trials at the Dar es Salaam seaport and rats performed extremely well," Dr Webb said.
Giant Rats Giant Rats Wildlife Smuggling Duke University Rat Study Giant African Pouched Rat Science
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