Vest-wearing giant rats could be smugglers’ worst nightmare
New Atlas | October 30, 2024 | Michael FrancoMost of us are familiar with the vest-clad beagle that hunts for illegal fruits and plants in the travelers’ luggage at airports. Now, a species of giant pouched rat has been trained to fulfill a similar role in finding illegal wildlife products.
The rodents who underwent the training are African giant pouched rats and, despite their somewhat terrifying name, really only grow to be about 750 mm (about 2.5 ft) long from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, with the tail taking up about half that length. While that’s indeed big for a rat, it makes the animal small enough that it could wander among tightly packed crates in shipping containers to combat illegally smuggled products.
Brooklyn:
“You said rats? We have the largest rats on the planet in fact our baseball team used to be the Brooklyn Rats.”
Rats! Why does it always have to be rats?”
You know 2 and a half feet is not “small”. Especially with those huge, nasty teeth.
“ …giant pouched rats… only grow to be about 750 mm (about 2.5 ft) long…”
ONLY? Well I’m not catching it!
I got news for them: they’re not a rats – they’re possums . Besides the size, the pouch is a dead giveaway.
Not a rat? Well, that’s a relief.
Rat tart, with not so much rat in it.
A cat that can’t identify a rat?
“Giant pouched rats are only distantly related to the true rats, although until recently they had been placed in the same family, Muridae.[1] Recent molecular studies, however, place them in the family Nesomyidae, part of an ancient radiation of African and Malagasy muroids. The name “pouched rat” refers to their large cheek pouches.”
Wikipedia
But does it identify as a him-muroid?
Ask the rat.