Rats! A New Kind of Border Patrol Agent.
Step aside, Fido. There’s a new animal in town: the African pouched rat.
These special trainees are taught how to differentiate different scents and signal when they find one they need to shout about, such as pangolin scales, rhino horn, elephant tusk, and African blackwood–all popular with smugglers.
These rats have an amazing sense of smell, are agile, and relatively inexpensive to keep. What else? They wear the cutest little red vests!
Humankind has a history of utilizing the special talents of animals to help us in many ways, from guard dogs to milking cows to medicine from snake venom, and so much more.
But are we partnering with our furry friends, or are we using them? Aside from those we raise for food, we want to keep our partners happy and well taken care of, but that doesn’t guarantee their happiness or ensure their cooperation comes willingly.
Thoughts of stories such as “Planet of the Apes” by Pierre Boulle and the many movie spinoffs tend to give one pause if you stop and consider it. What would happen if all of these animals we use to make our lives easier did gain intelligence and decide they didn’t want to help anymore? What if they felt that maybe it was time for humans to be their assistants, instead?
The greatest danger to humans (besides other humans) would come from another intelligent species, which is why we fear aliens so much. It might be more interesting to think closer to home. Animals smart enough to overcome their lack of opposable thumbs so they can build tools and weapons to use against their human overlords. (I’m not going to figure out how they do this in this article because, well, that is a tough one! But there’s a reason that apes enslaving humanity has an easier time of appearing possible, and the thumbs are it.)
What are your thoughts on leveraging cute little rats to deter smugglers, and the possibility of a global animal uprising in the future? Please comment below.
