Rescue Rats!

    There’s just been a terrible earthquake. You’ve been called to the scene to help. You have a very important job: to find people trapped in the rubble.

    Sirens howl. Dust swirls in the air. Wrecked buildings lie all around you. 

    You race under fallen concrete and climb over pieces of broken metal. You’ve been training for this your entire life. Now it’s your chance to be the hero you are meant to be.

    But you’re not an ordinary rescuer. 

    You’re not a firefighter or a doctor. 

    You are a rat.

    There’s been an earthquake. You’ve been called to the scene to help. Your job is to find people trapped in the rubble. 

    Sirens howl. Dust swirls in the air. Wrecked buildings lie all around you.

    You race under fallen concrete. You climb over broken metal. You’ve been training for this your whole life. Now it’s your chance to be a hero.

    But you’re no ordinary rescuer. You’re not a firefighter. You’re not a doctor.

    You’re a rat.

    There’s just been a terrible earthquake, and you’ve been called to the scene to help. You have a very important job: to find people trapped in the rubble.

    Sirens howl, and dust swirls in the air. Wrecked buildings lie all around you.

    You race under fallen concrete and climb over pieces of broken metal. You’ve been training for this your entire life. Now it’s your chance to be the hero you are meant to be.

    But you’re no ordinary rescuer. You’re not a firefighter or a doctor.

    You are a rat.

    Today an organization called APOPO is training African giant pouched rats to help rescue survivors of disasters. That might be surprising. After all, rats are known for eating garbage and spreading diseases. 

    But rats are also very smart. They are as easy to train as dogs. They have a great sense of smell, so they’re good at finding what they’ve been trained to find. Plus, they’re small. That helps them climb through rubble and get into tight places that dogs or people can’t reach. 

    When it comes to rats, APOPO has a lot of experience. The group has been working with rats for 25 years. It has already trained these rodents to sniff out bombs and deadly illnesses. Now scientists are teaching the rats a new skill.

    A group called APOPO is training African giant pouched rats to help rescue survivors of disasters. That might surprise you. After all, rats are known for eating trash and spreading diseases.

    But rats are very smart. They’re as easy to train as dogs. They have a great sense of smell, so they’re good at finding what they’ve been trained to find. Plus, they’re small. That helps them climb through rubble and get into tight places that dogs or people can’t reach.

    APOPO has a lot of experience with rats. The group has worked with rats for 25 years. It has trained these rodents to sniff out bombs and deadly illness. Now experts are teaching the rats a new skill.

    Today an organization called APOPO is training African giant pouched rats to help rescue survivors of disasters. You might find that surprising, considering that rats are known for eating garbage and spreading diseases.

    But rats are highly intelligent and as easy to train as dogs. Their excellent sense of smell makes them good at finding what they’ve been trained to find, and their small size helps them climb through rubble and get into tight places that dogs or people can’t reach.

    When it comes to rats, APOPO has plenty of experience. The group has been working with rats for 25 years. It has already trained these rodents to sniff out bombs and deadly illness. Now scientists are teaching the rats a new skill.

    Training a rat for search and rescue is a lot like training a dog. It’s all about rewards. First, a rat learns to run to its trainer when it hears a beep. That earns it a treat—rat food mixed with banana and avocado. Yum!

    Next, the rat learns to pull a bell on its backpack once it finds a survivor. In a real rescue situation, pulling the bell will send a location signal to rescuers. At that point, human rescuers will hopefully know the survivor’s location thanks to the backpack’s GPS tracker. The backpack could also have a microphone and speaker, similar to a phone. This allows the rescuers to talk to the survivor.

    Training a rat for search and rescue is like training a dog. It’s all about rewards. First, a rat learns to run to its trainer when it hears a beep. That earns it a treat: rat food mixed with banana and avocado. Yum!

    Next, the rat learns to pull a bell on its backpack once it finds its target. In a real-life rescue, pulling the bell will send out a location signal. Then human rescuers will know where the survivor is thanks to the GPS tracker in the backpack. The backpack could also have a microphone and speaker. This allows the human rescuers to talk to the survivor.

    Training a rat for search and rescue is similar to training a dog. It’s all about rewards. First, a rat learns to run to its trainer when it hears a beep. That earns it a treat—rat food mixed with banana and avocado. Yum!

    Next, the rat learns to pull a bell on its backpack once it finds its target. In a real rescue situation, pulling the bell will send a location signal to rescuers. At that point, human rescuers will know where the survivor is thanks to the GPS tracker in the backpack. The backpack could also have a microphone and speaker, similar to a phone, which allows the human rescuers to communicate with the survivor.