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Rats Detect Illegal Wildlife Products
Trained giant pouched rats are proving effective in detecting illegal wildlife products, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional methods.
Dutch
Netherlands
Human Rights ViolationsAfricaSmugglingWildlife CrimeConservation TechnologyAnimal Detection
Apopo
- Describe the training process for the rats.
- The rats' training involved rewarding them with food after successful detections; the training duration varied depending on the product, ranging from 22 to 126 sessions.
- What are the advantages of using rats for this purpose?
- Using giant pouched rats offers cost advantages over other detection methods like dogs due to lower costs in acquisition, training, and maintenance.
- How effective were the rats in detecting smuggled goods?
- The rats successfully detected smuggled goods even when concealed using deceptive methods, demonstrating their effectiveness as detection tools.
- What are the limitations of using rats for this purpose?
- Further research is needed to determine how to systematically deploy the rats for effective and widespread use in combating wildlife trafficking.
- What is the new method being used to detect illegal wildlife products?
- Giant pouched rats are being trained to detect illegal wildlife products such as rhino horn, ivory, pangolin scales, and grenadilla wood.