‘It’s amazing what they’re able to do’

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Thanks to a dedicated group of scientists training them for the job, giant rats are taking down the illegal wildlife trade in Tanzania.

Rats are often seen as disease-carrying pests to avoid at all costs. However, the African giant pouched rat is an asset to humanity and animals because of its intelligence and strong sense of smell, which allows it to sniff out illegal wildlife products such as rhino horns, ivory, and pangolin scales, as Mongabay reported on the story initially spotlighted in the Environmental Defense Fund’s Vital Signs newsletter.

Animal experts and scientists at the nonprofit rat training agency APOPO have started training the first generation of giant rats in Tanzania to detect shipments with wildlife-trafficked items. Previously, the rats were used to locate land mines and detect tuberculosis, proving they’re up for the latest challenge. 

The team plans to deploy the rats at target sites such as seaports, which are hotbeds of activity for wildlife crimes. So far, the adorable creatures have demonstrated remarkable wildlife detection skills, with the animals nearing a 90% accuracy rate in sniffing out trafficked products, according to José Eduardo Reynoso Cruz, behavioral researcher and an APOPO wildlife detection project lead scientist.

“These are special rats. It’s amazing what they’re able to do. Equipping enforcement officers with the right tools and technology is one of the best solutions we have,” Mikala Lauridsen, a program office director at Traffic, a global wildlife trade monitoring nongovernmental organization, told Mongabay.

The illegal wildlife trade harms people by increasing the risk of zoonotic disease spread and violence, along with disrupting wildlife-based tourism that communities rely on for income. Since humans depend on healthy ecosystems for survival, the rats will help protect biodiversity and ensure animal populations remain stable.

As Vital Signs explained, keeping animals like elephants in their natural habitats fights the changing climate since they store carbon in their bodies and create it by eating. Protecting these animals will promote a more stable environment, and the wildlife-sniffing rats may be key to making that happen. 

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