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Gambian Pouched Rat: Difference between revisions
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Circa the 1990's, a Tanzanian social enterprise called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APOPO APOPO] ("Anti-Personnel Landmines Removal Product Development" in English), began training [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_giant_pouched_rat southern giant pouched rats] (''Cricetomys ansorgei'') to detect land mines and tuberculosis with their highly developed sense of smell. These highly trained rats are referred to as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeroRATS HeroRATS]. Rats are significantly cheaper to train than mine-detecting dogs (a rat requires about USD$7,300 for nine months of training, whereas a dog costs about USD$25,000 for training). | Circa the 1990's, a Tanzanian social enterprise called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APOPO APOPO] ("Anti-Personnel Landmines Removal Product Development" in English), began training [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_giant_pouched_rat southern giant pouched rats] (''Cricetomys ansorgei'') to detect land mines and tuberculosis with their highly developed sense of smell. These highly trained rats are referred to as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeroRATS HeroRATS]. Rats are significantly cheaper to train than mine-detecting dogs (a rat requires about USD$7,300 for nine months of training, whereas a dog costs about USD$25,000 for training). | ||
|trivia=* Gambian Pouched Rats are banned in the United States due to being blamed for the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Midwest_monkeypox_outbreak 2003 outbreak of Monkeypox]. | |trivia=* Gambian Pouched Rats are banned in the United States due to being blamed for the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Midwest_monkeypox_outbreak 2003 outbreak of Monkeypox]. | ||
* The animal's name in turkish is "Afrika Cırlak Sıçanı" which translates to "African Screeching Shitter" | |||
* It is sometimes kept as a pet, but some have escaped from captivity and have since become an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species invasive species] in Florida. | * It is sometimes kept as a pet, but some have escaped from captivity and have since become an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species invasive species] in Florida. | ||
* In 2020, a Hero Rat named [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magawa Magawa] received a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Dispensary_for_Sick_Animals People's Dispensary for Sick Animals] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDSA_Gold_Medal Gold Medal], the animal equivalent of the George Cross, for his work. Prior to his retirement in 2021, Magawa detected 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded ordinance, clearing over 2,421,880 sq. ft. (225,000 m2) of land in Cambodia. Magawa passed away from natural causes at the age of 8 in 2022. | * In 2020, a Hero Rat named [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magawa Magawa] received a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Dispensary_for_Sick_Animals People's Dispensary for Sick Animals] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDSA_Gold_Medal Gold Medal], the animal equivalent of the George Cross, for his work. Prior to his retirement in 2021, Magawa detected 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded ordinance, clearing over 2,421,880 sq. ft. (225,000 m2) of land in Cambodia. Magawa passed away from natural causes at the age of 8 in 2022. | ||