The black market for illegal wildlife products is a serious global problem. While authorities and scientists have been trialing all kinds of methods to stop trafficking in its tracks, many are inefficient, costly, or a long way off deployment.

Scent-detection animals, however, could be one of the most promising solutions and an international team of researchers has turned to the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) in particular.

These rats have an impressive sense of smell, able to detect many different scents and tell the difference between them – not to mention they can get into tight spaces. They’ve previously been trained to sniff out explosives, and even tuberculosis-causing bacteria. Could they do the same with illegally trafficked wildlife...

https://www.iflscience.com/giant-rats-in-tiny-vests-trained-to-sniff-out-illegally-trafficked-wildlife-76598