He’s also bred for hunting. But instead, the English Springer Spaniel is using his supercharged sense of smell to sniff out koala scat in a bid to help save the iconic Australian animal.

These dogs, specially trained to sniff out koala scat, have found previously undiscovered koala populations. One dog, Max, revealed a group of koalas that researchers described as fluffier and ...

Unlike other koala detection dogs who sniff out koala scat, Bear is able to smell and lead rescuers to live koalas Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2013.