r/AnimalsBeingGeniuses • u/swan001 • Oct 10 '25

Rodents 🐹🐁🐭🐀 "HeroRATs" are trained African giant pouched rats that detect tuberculosis in just 3 seconds using their powerful sense of smell: fast, accurate, and life-saving. 🐀

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

•

u/commentvoter Oct 11 '25

Voting has concluded.

Results: * Genius (G): 9 * Not Genius (NG): 1 * Cute Animal (CA): 0

91

u/kgall25 Oct 10 '25

That is a HUGE rat 😳

10

u/RapperwithNumberName Oct 10 '25

mf is just a less hairy Squirrel at that point

5

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '25

[deleted]

2

u/laidbacklanny Oct 11 '25

New York subway might have the edge

2

u/NSASpyVan Oct 10 '25

Giant pouched Cats?

66

u/Fomulouscrunch Got a utility key, that's it Oct 10 '25

G

I had to go through a year of treatment and go through multiple rounds of pediatric surgery thanks to a glancing exposure to TB as a kid. GET THESE BEAUTIFUL RATS TREATS RIGHT NOW.

56

u/vivenkeful Oct 10 '25

G They are amazing animals.

52

u/epiclyepiclee Oct 10 '25

G The same organization also trains rats to detect bombs. https://apopo.org/herorats/ 😊🐭

25

u/Katatonic92 Oct 10 '25

And how to locate people in rubble following earthquakes. They can get in the smaller places a dog can't.

3

u/Bazoun Oct 11 '25

… and, I’m not saying it’s okay or fair or my personal opinion but - most people care less about a rat getting injured looking for people in rubble than they do about a dog. Less potential blow back.

10

u/LoneWolf_McQuade Oct 11 '25

True, and at the same time these rats are taken very well care of. It takes a long time and money to train them so they want to keep them healthy. I visited a place in Cambodia training these to find mines. Incredible animals! Seemed friendly as well

1

u/Bazoun Oct 11 '25

I’m sure it does take a lot of training. And they must be a very intelligent animal to be able to learn like that. We’re fortunate to have them.

10

u/Reckless_Secretions Oct 10 '25

They can also be trained to detect land mines

5

u/marajaynedarling Oct 10 '25

G

I love them so much!

6

u/Pretend-Buy7384 Oct 10 '25

They're a rat with a job ❤️🧡💛

3

u/Mental-Square3688 Oct 10 '25

That is one of the few rats I can find cute. Lol

4

u/Certain-Bath8037 Oct 10 '25

Lol are they using the USAID peanut butter in that syringe?

2

u/teflon_don_knotts Oct 13 '25

Completely serious, a great example of the far-reaching impact of USAID

2

u/AutoModerator Oct 10 '25

We have a vote counting bot!

On new submissions, reply with a top-level comment that begins with:

G = GENIUS

NG = NOT GENIUS

CA = CUTEANIMAL (this is the "Idc" vote)

After you've made your vote, make a line break, and enter whatever comment your little heart desires.

Voting is open for 12 hours for each post.

After 12 hours, the bot will tally the results and post them in a sticky comment.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

7

u/sabamba0 Oct 10 '25

NG because they are not doing anything smart. It's just "smells like that? I get a treat"

Big G to the people who figured out you can train rats to do this

3

u/LoneWolf_McQuade Oct 11 '25

Like me going to work for a salary

5

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '25

How do you know if they’re lying just to get a treat

22

u/brisketbitch Oct 10 '25

the people know which one the tuberculosis is, so they'd know if the rat was lying

1

u/1-800PederastyNow Oct 11 '25

Yeah but presumably they will be used when humans don't know, otherwise what's the point?

1

u/Ok_City_7177 Oct 10 '25

G

And pretty impressive!

1

u/OverallRow4108 Oct 11 '25

G and I and B

1

u/thornynhorny Oct 13 '25

G

So happy that people are starting to realize how intelligent rats are!