In the aftermath of hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters, searching for survivors can be a painstaking and sometimes dangerous task.
But an unlikely savior is being trained to help out.
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A project conceived by a Belgian nonprofit group will train rats to help first responders search for survivors among rubble in disaster zones.
Some rats have previously been trained for other emergency situations, like sniffing out land mines and even detecting tuberculosis.
In the video above, you can see rats with tiny, high-tech backpacks carrying video cameras. And if you’re wondering why they’re so big, they’re actually African giant pouched rats, which have a longer lifespan in captivity than the common brown rat.
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