Rats trained to sniff out crime

When it comes to animals that use their noses to sniff out crime, most people probably think of police dogs. However, research by an organisation called APOPO suggests rats could be the next crime-fighting heroes on four legs. APOPO has already trained African giant pouched rats to find land mines (hidden bombs on the ground), detect tuberculosis (an illness) in humans and locate people buried by earthquakes. Now, it has taught them to use their powerful noses to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. The illegal wildlife trade is the transport of wildlife and plants across countries’ borders to sell them. Criminals disguise items in lots of ways, including by staining ivory (such as elephant tusks) so it looks like wood or by cutting it into chunks and coating it in…

You're reading a preview of

The Week Junior (UK) (Digital) - 1 Issue, 466

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.