Typically when you see a rodent, you might have several reactions. They can range from disgust, fear or maybe you might even be amused at the sighting. But would you think, if in the midst of a tragedy and you were trapped, a rat wearing a backpack made his way to you?
Personally, I’d think I wonder how hard I hit my head, But, thanks to a Belgian non-profit group, rats are being trained to do exactly that – find people that are buried in the rubble after a building collapses.
APOPO staff trains a mouse to find survivors after a building collapse. Photo courtesy of APOPO
Earthquakes and other natural disasters can destroy towns in minutes, and finding survivors can be a long and difficult process. And that is where our newest heroes come in. The project was created by APOPO and they are working to train rodents to wear high-tech backpacks and help first responders find survivors in disaster areas.
“Rats are typically quite curious and like to explore – and that is key for search and rescue,” says Donna Kean, a behavioral research scientist and leader of the project. The adventurous rodents, Kean said, make them a wonderful training subject. Their small size and amazing sense of smell help them find things that are in tiny, tight spaces, she said.
Training involves learning to find survivors in simulated disaster areas. Rats are taught to find the ‘survivor’ in an empty room, then pull a switch on their vest which triggers a beeper to alert the human rescuers. Then, when they make it back to their base, they are given a treat. APOPO is also working with a technology university to make a backpack that will have a video camera, two-way microphone, as well as a location transmitter, so rescuers can talk with survivors.
Together with the backpack and the training, the rats are incredibly useful for search and rescue,” Kean said.
APOPO has previously worked with dogs and rats in locating landmines and detecting tuberculosis for more than 10 years. The rats are African Giant Pouched Rats, who have a longer lifespan than typical brown rats who live only 4 years on average.
Tanzania-based NGO APOPO trains giant African pouched rats to sniff out land mines and detect tuberculosis — two scourges that have had a tremendously negative impact on the African landscape. Photo courtesy of APOPO
The nonprofit is still working on ways to make the tech smaller and much lighter than the current prototype. Also, they are still determining ways to make it easier to work while the rat scampers along.
Meanwhile, Kean is working to give the rats tougher training, “to make it more like what they might encounter in real life.” The next step is to mimic more “real world scenarios,” with an immediate next stage involving taking the rats to areas that mimic “multiple floors of a collapsed building.”
So far, Kean is impressed by the rats. “They have to be super confident in any environment, under any conditions, and that’s something that these rats are naturally good at.” She said it will take at least nine to 12 months to train each rat. Watch below for a look at these tiny little rescuers!
