‘Ratscue’: Rats might be the future of search and rescue missions

While tweeting a picture of a giant rat eating through a syringe, Kean wrote, “I train these clever creatures to save victims trapped in collapsed buildings after earthquakes. We kit them out with a rat backpack, and train them to trigger a switch when they find a victim & come back for a tasty treat 🐀 #herosnotpests #science #weirdjobs #WomenInSTEM”.

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The tweet went viral on Thursday and gathered over one lakh likes with people curiously engaging with her research.

In an interview with Science, a journal produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Kean explained that she and her colleagues at APOPO had been training rats to follow a simple but impactful set of instructions that can help identify people who are trapped under debris.

So far in lab settings, the APOPO researchers have trained rats to scour areas, detect human presence, ring a sound to alert the rescuers about the person and return to starting points. Since the rats will be equipped with a GPS device, the rescuers will be able to pinpoint the location of the survivor.

Additionally, unlike most research associated with animals, APOPO’s training follows all ethical standards and rats “get regular playtime, and a retirement package” when they can no longer work.

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