Hero Rats: landmine and tuberculosis detectors

Meet the Hero Rats who love to play hide and seek amongst landmines and unexploded bombs, and treasure hunt for positive TB samples. Apopo, a Belgian charity is harnessing the sociability, enthusiasm for repetitive tasks, love of bananas and acute sense of smell of the African Giant Pouched rat to uncover killers.

Working in Mozambique and Tanzania (with plans to establish operations in Colombia and South East Asia) Apopo has already cleared large areas of unexploded ordinance and detected TB in hundreds of samples missed by more costly conventional testing.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Bart
• Weetjens
• Stuart
• Franklin
• Magnum
• Photos
• Geneva
• International
• Centre
• for
• Humanitarian
• Demining
• land
• mine
• conditioning
• training
• animal
• rodent
• train
• trained
• behaviour
• behavioural
• science
• scientific
• olfactory
• senses
• detective
• detection
• war
• civilian
• Africa

[Cheeseisgood222]

3:07 lol Obama and Michelle

[pyrovania]

@Robocheeseball701 Tuberculosis is caused a bacteria that grows in your lungs. The rats can probably identify the smell on the patient's breath.

[MrHanuable]

amazing work! on apopo.com you guys can actually rent a rat like that and help them with some money to save more lives and buy more dlicious bananas

[FrankioloDiddlyDee]

Wow I would love to work with that company, amazing work and the rats are lovely.

[Dyknown]

What is the situation involving the "Michelle" and "Obama" rats? Was it supposed to be one rat?

[nluvwithmiami]

@Epsonthegiraffe Rats got the blame for the Bubonic Plague....it was actually the FLEAS that were on the rats that caused it, not the rats themselves :)

[Epsonthegiraffe]

The animals that once brought death now save it.

I have the highest respect for these animals and their human partners. Saving lives just to be rewarded with a banana.

[GuitarSlinger151]

This is a really cool story, great video

[xNerdyBabezx]

Hero rats, Hero rats, fighting for man kind. ^-^

[iamgoinghigher]

love rats!!!!!!!!!!!!

[a1369]

@pyrovania They smell TB bacteria on lab spit samples collected from those being tested. Their detection rate is a lot better than that of regular tests.