Giant rat celebrated for detecting one of the worldâs deadliest illnesses: âWe really do see them as heroesâ
Leslie Sattler
Carolina isnât your average retiree. After seven years of devoted work, Carolina, an African giant pouched rat, had sniffed out more than 3,000 cases of tuberculosis that medical tests had missed, likely helping 30,000 more people avoid infection, according to National Geographic.
Carolina worked for APOPO, a nonprofit organization that has 40 trained rats fighting TB in Tanzania and Ethiopia. These remarkable animals arenât your typical city pests. Their bodies are longer than a 13-inch laptop, with equally long tails and an extraordinary sense of smell.
âEverybodyâs first impression is that the rats are our enemies,â said physician Tefera Agizew, head of tuberculosis for APOPO, in the National Geographic report. âOnce they see how they function, they fall in love with them.â More
