Smells like a HeroRAT

‘Rats’ – a four-letter word to many of us. But thanks to its olfactory skills, that much-decried rodent isn’t necessarily the villain of the piece

- JAMES McKAY

The Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus), despite its name, is more closely related to the hamster. The pouches give it away. Found on both sides of the animal’s face, they are used to transport huge amounts of food to the animal’s home, giving a new meaning to the term ‘stuffing your face’. The German verb ‘hamstern’ means to hoard.

While most people are aware of the superior olfactory abilities of dogs, it may come as a surprise to know that ‘pouchies’ have an even better sense of smell. As a result, they have been used to find unexploded ordnance in several African countries since Bart Weetjens, director of APOPO – Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling (AntiPersonnel Landmines Removal Product Development), a Belgian research company – had the idea to use them in the 1990s, christening the rodents ‘HeroRATs’.

APOPO took the concept of sniffer dogs, miniaturised it and now trains and deploys the HeroRATs throughout the African continent. Today, HeroRATs are used not only to find unexploded landmines but to detect tuberculosis (TB) in humans and even to find smuggled wildlife, such as the pangolin. And in these strange times, pouched rats are being considered for an additional task: detecting COVID-19.

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