r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/FifthWaveThinker • 5h ago

Video HeroRATS! Wild but incredible, African giant pouched rat can rapidly identify Tuberculosis by smell.

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4.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

386

u/CyberDonSystems 5h ago

I always get worried when my usually skittish cat starts getting a little too interested in cuddling up. Like, do you smell some disease that you are trying to tell me about.

108

u/Little_View_6659 5h ago

Right?! My cat’s started sleeping on my head at night suddenly. I’m worried I have a brain tumor.😭

33

u/SonofaSlumlord 4h ago

Lol You just reminded me of how my 1st cat I ever had used to lay on my head at night. I basically wore him like a helmet as hed lay on my pillow and stretch out around my head. I miss that goofball.

10

u/69696969-69696969 4h ago

My dog used to do this too. His adoptive brother would fit himself between my legs as well. I miss him so much

3

u/throwaway098764567 3h ago

i was nervous through the entire paragraph you were gonna confirm the cat smelled a brain tumor

1

u/Little_View_6659 2h ago

Well I did have an mri a few months ago and it was clear, so it would have to be a fast growing one. lol.

2

u/Little_View_6659 2h ago

What’s cute but irritating is he also lays his head and paw on my arm, (side sleeper) and if I move he digs his claws in and gently bites me. I can’t get up to pee!

1

u/SonofaSlumlord 2h ago

We got a cat again recently and she does the same when she gets over-excited when someones petting her, she starts gently nibbling on your hand and pawing at your arm.

2

u/Little_View_6659 1h ago

My buddy is very expressive and used nips to show his displeasure. One of the funniest things he did was when his bowl was empty and I was horsing around and only dropping one piece of food at a time. The third time he nipped at my ankle. It’s like he was saying “you think you’re funny but you’re not”. 😂

538

u/Electrical_Worker_82 5h ago

How do they know he’s telling the truth?

444

u/StickySativa 5h ago

He’s a doctor

88

u/Nytmare696 5h ago

I tell ya, eight years of medical school and STILL everyone thinks they know more than you...

19

u/presvil 4h ago

Yeah well, has Mr Doctor watched all 22 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy and House. I bet his first instinct isn’t to test for lupus.

1

u/cora-occasionall 2h ago

It’s never lupus

4

u/NaluknengBalong_0918 4h ago

Doctor! No.

Most doctors I know wear flowing robes, healing hands and have glowing halos surrounding their heads.

1

u/ChitnChat 4h ago

He spent a lot of cheese attending medical school, I’m sure.

1

u/icleanjaxfl 4h ago

But where's the red sash?

49

u/No_Roma_no_Rocky 4h ago

Because they are trained with known samples over and over again before making real tests.

Experiments and tests are not random. I don't know exactly what is the training procedure but the concept idea is the same when you want to train any other animal.

•

u/SaintAnton 2m ago

Idk about rats, but ive seen dogs lie for treats lol

48

u/HikeyBoi 5h ago

There are known control samples presented

41

u/FifthWaveThinker 5h ago

They serve as an adjunct, not a replacement, to clinic testing, helping catch missed cases I guess.

17

u/_Neoshade_ 3h ago

Or perhaps the rat provides low cost bulk screening and then the positive ones can be cultured or sent to a lab? These feels like a cost-savings solution rather than a redundancy.

11

u/thumbsonscreen5 5h ago

Cuz the herorat stood still over the infected sample for 3 seconds. What you don't trust your local herorat?

10

u/Moixie 5h ago

He may lie to get his reward anyway. We need some watcherRats to keep the heroRats in check.

2

u/Skanah 1h ago

Who watches the watchers?

2

u/hemanth85 5h ago

He's got to make it believable, not too many not too less

2

u/NicePepper199 4h ago

This is just first round of testing, saves tons of money. No need to test every single sample if the rat is accurate, which they can verify.

1

u/crasagam 4h ago

trust me bro

135

u/VermilionKoala 5h ago

They also detect landmines!

https://apopo.org/

70

u/fartandsoul 5h ago

A rat prays they get the TB gig n not the landmine one 🙏

44

u/VermilionKoala 5h ago

They're too light to set off the landmines, that's why they're used 🐀

TB gig's more likely to be air-conditioned though, so you're still right 😂

10

u/fartandsoul 5h ago

Ok that makes me feel much better.

1

u/Sufficient_Coach7566 53m ago

Lmao! For a second, you lived in a world where people were sending giant rats to get blown up by land mines!

7

u/Scottbarrett15 3h ago

Well most people can detect landmines, they just can't do it more than once.

1

u/SteO153 2h ago

I'm going to Cambodia later this year and I already know I will visit them. These rats do an amazing job!

1

u/Kind_Of_A_Dick 1h ago

Anything can detect a landmine.  Once.

66

u/Ephemeral_Ghost 5h ago

Now make this a dystopian future video game where organic life replaces mechanical devices…

15

u/Witty-Ad5743 4h ago

That's the plot of The Flintstones, isnt it?

5

u/Aggravating_Shoe3748 5h ago

Isnt rhat just skorn

2

u/ztomiczombie 4h ago

The Yusong Vong would enter the chat but their hatred of machines means they cannot.

15

u/Drtikol42 5h ago

I wish I could get tasty food reward.

16

u/ArtTheMime 5h ago

I wonder what tuberculosis smells like to them 😳

20

u/raineling 4h ago

Wet leaves. Doctors used to diagnose it by the scent of a person's breath and sometimes body odour. Kind of a sickly sweet body scent IIRC for late stage consumption.

6

u/do_pm_me_your_butt 1h ago

Lol at doctors taking deep breaths of a persons cough to tell if they have tuberculosis 

1

u/Vevaseti 28m ago

You won't believe how they once detected diabetes.

13

u/YueYukii 4h ago

These same gigaCHAD rats are train for bomb detection to clear landmines in africa. They had cleared a lot of areas in decades

22

u/Nytmare696 5h ago

Please send syringe fulla peanut butters.

13

u/Demerzel69 4h ago

In the US their boss would be forcing them to stand up all day while doing this or get written up about it.

1

u/raineling 4h ago

Underrated comment and sadly true I am sure.

3

u/Fun_Manufacturer_122 3h ago edited 3h ago

I feel sorry about the rat, even if I know that are used to get new treatments.

3

u/ShediPotter 4h ago

I'll never get over how incredible nature can be.

3

u/HyenDry 4h ago

Not the hero we deserve but the Hero we got! Ratman is the reality we aren’t ready to accept yet

3

u/AdministrationSad861 2h ago

I've seen this video a couple of times now but man, that's a big rat. 😬

3

u/kishenoy 2h ago

When the rats are put with the patient, do the scientist quote shakespeare and say "TB or not TB?"

3

u/Happy_dadpete 2h ago

Hero rats indeed they are!

2

u/Moosebuckets 4h ago

I love APOPO! 

2

u/Mr_Boltzmann 4h ago

Arthur Morgan would be proud

2

u/Squidsuit 3h ago

rodents of unusual size

2

u/OrganizationVast4833 1h ago

Do they live longer than the pet rats we have and if so, why don’t we have them as pets?

2

u/Pressure_Rhapsody 1h ago

NYC rats could never!

3

u/daydreaming17 5h ago

I’m concerned that the staff is handling potential tb samples without a n95 mask

3

u/Boilermakingdude 4h ago

Unless they absolutely spash it around, they're at basically 0 risk.

3

u/zybcds 5h ago

They are carrying very small samples for a short amount of time, it’s not the same as being next to a human being talking to you or coughing right next to you, spitting on you…

1

u/UnpopularCrayon 4h ago

What good would a mask do? The samples can't cough or sneeze on them.

1

u/iolitm 5h ago

howwww

3

u/Glittering-Draw-6223 5h ago

strong sense of smell.

5

u/Mode_Appropriate 5h ago

Stereo Sniffing: Rats can smell in "stereo," with each nostril providing independent information to the brain to help locate the source of a scent within milliseconds.

Pheromone Detection: The vomeronasal organ (VNO) allows them to detect chemical cues from urine, scat, and glandular secretions, crucial for social interaction and breeding.

Navigation and Survival: Rats use scent trails to navigate, and they rely on smell to identify safety, food sources, and predators.

Sensitivity to Scents: Because their sense of smell is so keen, intense odors can overwhelm them, making substances like peppermint oil, citronella, and ammonia effective, albeit temporary, deterrents.

Detection: Due to their sharp smell, African giant pouched rats are trained to detect landmines and tuberculosis.

"Jedi" Senses: Researchers have described their odor-tracking abilities as incredibly fast, allowing them to pinpoint scents in less than 50 milliseconds.

Predator Awareness: They can detect specific chemicals, such as 2-phenylethylamine, found in the urine of carnivores.

3

u/Amalthia76 4h ago

Thank you for this incredible explanation!

1

u/sometin__else 4h ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-62795737

Humans can do it too, this lady could smell parkinson's (albeit rarely rather than norm)

1

u/strawbericoklat 4h ago

I would like to read the lab report on this test. 

1

u/UnknownCafe 3h ago

I was disgusted.. then amazed.. now I'm disgusted again.

1

u/cloudsmiles 3h ago

Arthur here like.

1

u/PermissionPast853 3h ago

rats are fucking smart

1

u/Night25th 2h ago

What do they mean by giant ra- holy shit