Sniffer squirrels: Chinese police use squirrels to find illegal goods

You've probably heard of sniffer dogs, but what about sniffer squirrels?

Police in China have started to train squirrels to help them with their work and find illegal items.

The first six rodents will be helping police at train stations, airports and border checkpoints. Squirrels have a great sense of smell and they can get in smaller spaces than dogs.

Find out more about these squirrels and other animals with a super sense of smell below!

Squirrels

Police in China have trained six Eurasian red squirrels

Police in the southwest city of Chongqing, have trained six Eurasian red squirrels to sniff out illegal items.

Yin Jin, a trainer of the local squad of police dogs, told Shangyou News: "Squirrels have a quite acute sense of smell, but we didn't have sniffer squirrels in the past because we didn't have mature techniques to train rodents."

But the team found that the training used for sniffer dogs has been effective with the squirrels.

When the squirrel finds something they think might be illegal, they'll scratch the item to let their trainer know.

As the squirrels are smaller and very nimble, the police hope they will be better than dogs at searching complex spaces with tight corners or high up areas.

Rats

Magawa the hero rat

Squirrels aren't the only alternative used in place of sniffer dogs.

In 2013 police in the Netherlands trained rats to help them solve crimes by sniffing out if a gun had been fired.

It's not just police work these rats can help with, in Cambodia hero rat Magawa even won an award for his work finding landmines.

Cambodia has hidden explosives in the ground after decades of war, so Magawa the rat hunts for the landmines before they can hurt anyone.

Bees

Researchers have been investigating how to use bees to detect explosives.

Scientists in Croatia, have spent years looking at how to use bees to find landmines because they can pick up the scent of explosives with their antennae.

Back in 2007, a team at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said they trained honeybees to stick out their proboscis - the long tube they use to feed on nectar - when they can smell explosives.

They gave the bees a sugar water treat after exposing them to the smell of explosives - this then trained them to recognise explosives and stick out their proboscis when they do.

What do you think of these amazing animals? Does your pet have a great sense of smell? Let us know in the comments!