© APOPO
Rats to the Rescue!
Soon survivors of disasters could be saved by . . . rats wearing backpacks.
There’s been a terrible earthquake. You’re brought to the scene to help. You have a very important job. You must find people trapped in the rubble.
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 a firefighter or a doctor. You’re not even human.
You’re a rat.
© APOPO
When a rat completes a task, it gets a treat.
Rats Have Talent
An organization called APOPO has been working with African giant pouched rats for 25 years. It has already trained these rodents to sniff out bombs and deadly illnesses.
Now APOPO is teaching the rats to help rescue survivors of disasters. That might surprise you. After all, many rats eat garbage and spread diseases.
But rats are also very smart. They are as easy to train as dogs. They have a great sense of smell. That means they’re good at finding what they’ve been trained to find.
Plus, they’re small. They can climb through rubble and into tight places that dogs or people can’t reach.
Shutterstock.com (rubble); © APOPO (rat)
This rat rings a bell to let humans know it has found someone.
Tiny Heroes
Training a rat for search and rescue is a lot like training a dog. It’s all about giving rewards when the animal finishes tasks.
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. Ew!
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 human rescuers. At that point, they can track the survivor’s location. How? The rat’s backpack has a GPS tracker.
The backpack might also have a microphone and speaker. This would allow the rescuers to hear and talk to the survivor.
© APOPO
Donna Kean (right) takes a break with one of the trained rats.
They’re There to Help
So far, the new training of the rats has been a success. Donna Kean runs this project at APOPO.
“Rats are curious and like to explore,” Kean explains. “That’s key for search and rescue.”
Most of the rats she’s worked with have learned their tasks quickly.
If you’re ever in need of rescue, look out for a tiny hero with a backpack. That little rat might just save your life!
