S2:E12 - How Rats Are Saving People's Lives

This episode is hopefully going to forever change your prospective on rats!

Yes, the well known rodent that we often look at as pests in our day to day lives.

If you’ve ever had a rat problem in your home, you know how clever and smart they are, how easily they can outmaneuver you. They are natural problem solvers with such a keen sense of smell and a nose for food.

Well an awesome organization called APOPO, headquartered in Tanzania, has found a way to channel the abilities of rats to help people. To quite literally save lives. Today APOPO is working with Rats to detect land mines that have been buried for years, and to detect tuberculosis in humans, the most deadly disease in the world.

Joining us today is Dr. Cindy Fast, Head of Training & Innovation for APOPO who has a background in Behavioral Neuroscience that she is now applying to training these HeroRats.

As a bit of a teaser that will make your heart spin, check out this video about Magawa, one of APOPO’s most famous rats who won a medal of honor for clearing 141,000 square meters of land mines in just 4 years!

We promise you this - you will leave this episode with a whole new respect and appreciation for rats!

Please also check out APOPO’s website and if you can, adopt a HeroRat for yourself! It costs just $9 per month and as a non-profit, APOPO needs this support to continue to save lives. You will get regular updates on the work your rat is doing and the lives he or she is saving. It will be the best $9 you ever spent!

IN THIS EPISODE

2:45 - The story of APOPO

6:25 - Why rats are so well equipped for land mind detection

8:45 - How APOPO rats are trained

12:40 - People trusting their lives to rats

21:00 - How rats detect Tuberculosis

30:10 - Magawa, APOPO’s most famous HeroRat

32:40 - Do the rats feel pride?

38:50 - Future applications for APOPO rats