Taiwan now has the world's first detector dog able to detect the presence of red fire ants, a species alien to Taiwan whose bite can lead to anaphylactic shock -- a sometimes fatal condition. "Model," as the talented beagle is known, has been trained to detect red fire ants in groups of 13 ants or more.
Weighing 13kg, three-year-old Model was originally trained by the Detector Dog Training Center at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to work as a detector dog at airports, said Chi Wei-lian (
unusually sensitive
Chi said that although Model has an unusually sensitive nose, she is a bit weaker and suffers more often from diarrhea than other dogs do. Due to Model's keen nose, however, the center wanted to use the dog, and an opportunity presented itself when the red ant detection program at Academia Sinica contacted the training center about the possibility of training red ant detector dogs. The center decided to retrain Model.
At a press conference at Academia Sinica on Friday, Model showed her abilities. Ten cans with dead red fire ants had been hidden in different locations on a lawn.
Led by trainer assistant Huang Yi-fan (
rare breed
Explaining how difficult it was to train detector dogs, Chi said that only one in 10 dogs has the abilities required to become a dedicated detector dog.
Of the dogs suitable to work as detector dogs, only one in two can be trained as fire ant detector dogs.
As an example, Chi said that Model was trained together with two other beagles, Rudolph and Eleven, but neither of them were as sensitive as Model, who was trained in six months.
Chi added that attempts at training such dogs in Australia had failed since many dogs are afraid of the smell of red fire ants.
Lin Tsung-chi (林宗岐), an assistant professor in the department of biology at National Changhua University of Education who has been called "the red fire ant doctor" said that in Taiwan, red fire ants mainly appear in Taoyuan, Taipei and Chiayi counties.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS