title: Training pouched rats to find people.
abstract: Giant African pouched rats equipped with video cameras may be a tenable option for locating living humans trapped under debris from collapsed structures. In the present study, 5 pouched rats were trained to contact human targets in a simulated collapsed building and to return to the release point after hearing a signal to do so. During test sessions, each rat located human targets more often than it located similar-sized inanimate targets on which it had not previously been trained and spent more time within 1 m of the human target than within 1 m of the other targets. Overall, the rats found humans, plastic bags containing clothes, and plastic bags without clothes on 83%, 37%, and 11% of trials, respectively. These findings suggest that using pouched rats to search for survivors in collapsed structures merits further attention.
authors.affiliation: Western Michigan University.
authors.forename: Kate B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: La Londe
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahoney
authors.forename: Timothy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weetjens
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Durgin
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poling
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051381:Rats; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D013663:Teaching; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Cricetomys gambianus; detection animals; scent detection; urban search and rescue