I couldn’t find a pic with one and a cat side by side, but I’m sure they would think twice about the giant rat.

Here’s some people holding them:

And here is one next to the typical pet fancy rat:

I also got distracted by the whole bomb thing and didn’t mention they are “pouched” rats because they are the only rat with cheek pouches like a hamster. Here’s one loading up some food for later:

The great part is that the rats aren’t forced to do it.

To the rats, they are basically only doing their natural behavior of sniffing out objects. The rats are put into supervised training, only work with one individual or stable pair of trainers, and get 9-12 months of training to see if they are willing and able to do the job. If they don’t take to it, they aren’t forced to learn.

In return, the rats get a great life, being cared for, treated as individuals, and they get to retire and participate in the breeding program.

Humans made the mess, but the guilty parties that placed the mines are never going to be the ones removing them. It’s almost always innocent people that suffer, being killed, injured, or even just having parts of their homeland otherwise be off limits due to the danger. This work helps return those people’s lives back to the way they should have been. They can’t fix anyone who’s already been hurt or killed, but they can assure it will not happen again.

The Apopo website is very amazing and covers so much important info. Anyone who enjoyed the story should take a look. Here is their FAQ to get started.

In addition to the mines, the rats also detect tuberculosis to minimize outbreaks and sniff out endangered species so they can be protected. Humans are great at a lot of things, but in many ways, animals natural skills leave us behind in the dust. By working together, it allows us to become much more effective at making life better for humans and animals.

2 minute video of the rats training

They look very well cared for, and the video states none of the rats has ever been injured or killed by the work.

It’s a cool looking cat, for certain!

One would need a big lap for it to curl up on.

I was saddened to know that Pearl, an albino robin, I was a fan of for a few years, passed 3 weeks ago. Now a new baby shows up where I volunteer.

I can’t wait to meet you, little baby burb, and I hope we can give you a life as good as Pearl had!

That is so thoughtful of you! All of our animal friends deserve such compassion. A very lovely photo as well! I’ve never seen one or even knew they were a thing before finding this post, so I will have to keep my eyes out now!

Here is a pic of a hummingbird moth caterpillar for everyone.

Magnificent!

At the rehab conference, one lady had a decent sized plush opossum hair clip and I’ve been jealous ever since. She must have made it since all I mostly see are plastic ones, that are still cute, but it’s not as convincing as her looking like she had a baby opossum reading her head like a real joey would.

Edit: I found a pic of it! I remembered it being more real, but it is actually more zany, which I still approve of.

Probs. Their raccoon cousins are certainly smellier than anything I try to let in my house.

I want to see it!

Hmm…that does really save on all those exotic vet fees… 🤔

There are actually a ton of results when I search for “ringtail cat plush”!

This one is really good (and priced accordingly)!

Size looks good, but I’m wondering how hyper these little guys are before I put on in my house! They look like they enjoy mischief 😆

Though they do look pretty similar, it doesn’t sound like they have anything genetically in common. They both showed up about 20ish million years ago, the genets being feliforms (cat-like mammals, but not actual cats) in Africa, and these are offshoots of a caniform in, mostly likely, Central America.

Red pandas were until recently also lumped into family Procyonidae with both of today’s raccoon relatives, but around 1998-2000 enough genetic testing was done to get them moved into their own family, Ailuridae, along with a few extinct red panda species.

Striped tails just seemed to be trendy around that 20 MYA period. 😄

They look very charming!

I went looking to see how big they are and I found a clip from the Memphis Zoo with the keeper holding it. It looks like a squirrel and a housecat had a baby. 😆

Since you asked so nice and since I’m so bored…

Ring Tailed Cat