With a superpower sense of smell, they can be taught to sniff out landmines, diseases, and even humans buried under rubble.

Dodoma

African giant pouched rats, trained by the Belgian non-profit APOPO in Tanzania, are being used for a range of life-saving missions. These rodents are taught to use their keen sense of smell to detect land mines, tuberculosis (TB), and even locate humans trapped under rubble after disasters. 

APOPO's TB detection program, which began in 2007, has helped identify over 30,000 TB patients who were previously misdiagnosed, potentially preventing hundreds of thousands of secondary infections. The rats are now being prepared for search and rescue operations, where their small size and ability to carry communication devices make them valuable assets for reaching disaster survivors in areas inaccessible to dogs.

Non-profit APOPO trains rats for life-saving missions in Tanzania

Rodents may not be man's best friend, but these African giant pouched rats are heroes. They're being trained in Tanzania by Belgian non-profit organisation APOPO to help with life-saving missions. With a superpower sense of smell, they can be taught to sniff out land mines, diseases and even humans buried under rubble. Sophia Madinda explains how the training works. We have positive samples, which we know, and negative samples. The rat has to show us the positive samples and read for the set time. After succeeding, the rat moves on to the next stage, the operational stage, where it begins the actual work. Tanzania has one of the highest global TB burdens, but false negatives are a major problem. In 2007, APOPO expanded its training to include TB detection and now works with hospitals in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique. We have found over 30,000 patients which were basically sent home saying you are negative. And 30,000 patients, if you consider that they each can infect 10 to 15 people per year, that is also preventing 300,000 to 400,000 secondary infections. Now these super-rodents are being trained for a new life-saving mission. They will be helping search and rescue teams find survivors after a disaster, like an earthquake for example. They are small and so they can penetrate rubble, which is something that search and rescue dogs cannot do. So they can only smell from the surface of the debris. And they can carry a small backpack and that allows the operators that are outside the debris to communicate with the victim. The rats' training begins shortly after birth for specific missions. And with a longer than average rodent lifespan of almost a decade, they can carry out their work for years.

A powerful aftershock struck eastern Afghanistan late on Thursday night. More than 2,200 people have already died the quake. Rescue crews are still searching remote villages, but rescue efforts are hampered by rough terrain and aftershocks. The World Food Programme says food stocks are running low and could be exhausted within weeks.

Kabul

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Paris

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A powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 1,400 people, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society. Thousands more were  injured.

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Breakdown