At first glance, the African crested rat looks like a cute, furry, grey rabbit with a little skunk mixed in. At about a kilo in mass, it's one of the larger and more attractive species of rat.

A trained rat wearing a special vest to alert handlers when they detect a target. Giant African rats are being trained to sniff out illegal goods like elephant tusks, rhino horns, and pangolin scales.

African giant pouched rats can detect illegally trafficked wildlife, even when it has been concealed among other substances. Source: APOPO, used with permission.

Non-profit APOPO is training African giant pouched rats to help in the global fight against the multi-billion-dollar illegal wildlife trade. Here, a rat on a lead searches for concealed wildlife ...

Carolina is an African giant pouched rat who can screen 100 sputum (i.e phlegm) samples for tuberculosis in 20 minutes—much faster than a human, who takes four days to process the same amount of ...

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 ...

The African giant pouched rat is no ordinary rodent. With a body longer than a MacBook Air and a tail to match, this species is calm, trainable, and lives 8–10 years in captivity.