Forget fictional Rodents of Unusual Size – for wildlife traffickers, there are real life giant rats to be feared, after researchers successfully trained African giant pouched rats to pick up the ...

The rats were able to find the illegal items even when they were hidden in other smelly substances that smugglers had ...

While the jury is still out on whether or not the African giant pouched rat is cute, it’s harder to deny the impressive power of its nose. Tanzania-based non-profit APOPO has already ...

They’re rats. And they wear tiny red vests. African giant pouched rats have been trained to identify pangolin scales, elephant ivory and other items from at-risk species, researchers report ...

Giant African rats may soon be the key to fighting illegal wildlife trafficking. New research from nonprofit APOPO, published Oct. 29, shows that African giant pouched rats can be trained to ...

Giant African rats during training. Giant African rats that weigh 1.5-2 kg and are 3-4 times the size of brown rats can be used to fight illegal wildlife trafficking, according to a study ...

No, this foreign invader is a snail. But what a snail it is. The giant African land snail "can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster," says Reuters' Barbara Liston. Since the ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Scientists have flipped the cliché of smelling a rat by training giant rodents to sniff out contraband ...

While the jury is still out on whether or not the African giant pouched rat is cute, it’s harder to deny the impressive power of its nose. Tanzania-based non-profit APOPO has already demonstrated the ...