Nov. 29, 2024

Rats with Tiny Backpacks: Wildlife Smugglers' New Nemesis

Show Notes
Transcript

Join Johnny Mac in this episode as he shares five uplifting news stories. Discover how African giant poached rats with tiny backpacks are trained to detect illegal wildlife parts. Learn about the innovative water system being developed by scientists at the University of Las Vegas, which pulls water from the air in desert climates. Celebrate the rediscovery of the giant salmon carp in Cambodia's Mekong River. Be inspired by Michelle's heartfelt wedding vow surprise in Armenian. Finally, find out about the quirky new hugging rule at Wellington Airport in New Zealand, designed to keep farewells short and sweet. Enjoy the positivity and spread the word to your friends, with an option to enjoy the show commercial-free for a 30-day free trial.

00:11 Rats with Tiny Backpacks: Wildlife Smugglers' New Nemesis
00:57 Innovative Water Solutions in Desert Climates
01:27 Rediscovery of the Giant Salmon Carp
02:04 A Bride's Armenian Surprise
02:47 Wellington Airport's Hugging Rule

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5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network

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Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with five

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good news stories. Rats with tiny backpacks are being used

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to sniff out wildlife smugglers. That's right. African giant poached

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rats have been trained to recognize the scent of illegal

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animal parts. What kind of animal parts? Well, elephant tusks,

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rhino horns. They've previously been used to detect explosives and tuberculosis,

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So stop hitting on the rats. Well, yeah, rats are

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our friends. Burly sixteen rats have been trained to detect

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products inside shipping containers, and the rats have proven they

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can identify commonly traffic wildlife items even when hidden among

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smelly items used by smugglers to conceal their presence. When

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they discover the smuggling, they're rewarded with food including avocado,

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banana and crush chowel pellets. Meanwhile, the scientists at the

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University of Las Vegas are working on revolutionizing how water

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is applied in desert climates. They have a new system

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that pulls gallons of water a day out of the air.

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Professor Cho called it a watershed moment. Wonder if he

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was being funny or not. Joe's design relies on a

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hydro gel inspired by frog's spin. He said, we took

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that idea and tried to do it in our own way.

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There are so many cool things happening in nature. You

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just have to look around, learn and be inspired. Good

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news in Cambodia, a huge fish in the Mekong River,

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thought to be extinct, has been spotted three times recently.

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It's the giant salmon carp. Giant salmon carp can grow

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up to be four feet in length. You'll know it's

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a giant salmon carp when you notice the knob at

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the tip of its lower jaw. Plus it has a

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striking patch of yellow surrounding its eyes. Last scene in

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two thousand and five, scientists asked the local fishermen, hey,

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let us know if you see one. The fishermen were like, yeah,

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well one of the scientists was like uh huh right,

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and then no no. I was really surprised and excited

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to see the real fish for the first time. The

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rediscovery is very exciting positive news. Where you guys been

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the last twenty years. Michelle the Bride had an idea

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for her wedding. She thought it'd be fun to say

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the last line of her vows in Armenian to surprise

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her soon to be husband, Shahan, and then she thought

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about it said, if I'm going to learn Armenian to

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say these vows, I might as well start learning it properly.

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She says, keeping everything a secret from Shahan and his

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entire family for four months was probably the hardest thing

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about everything. I wanted to share what I was learning

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so badly, and there were times where I understood some

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things they were saying, but I had to keep a

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poker face. I knew that even if I didn't say

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everything perfectly on the wedding day, what would matter most

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to Shahan was the effort in the meaning behind it.

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She nailed it. They now have a child and said,

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we'll speak as much Armenian as we can at home

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and sit with Shahan's family so our daughter can pick

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it up and I can continue to learn and improve. Hey,

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good news. If you hate long goodbyes, you should go

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to the airport in Wellington, New Zealand. They have a

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new rule three minutes of hugging and then move your car,

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which is a great rule, but I'm from New York

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and make it, I don't know, eight seconds and move

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your car, and even eight seconds, my hand would already

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be on the horn. Move it, buddy. Signs outside the

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terminal say max hug time three minutes. If you need

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more fon farewells, you should head to the airport's parking lot.

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Of course, they're being criticized, and airport officials said, we

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were accused of breaching basic human rights and how dare

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we limit how long someone can have a hug for?

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But they say three minutes is plenty of sign and

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pull up, say farewell to your loved ones and move on.

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The time limit is a nicer way of saying, you know,

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get on with it. Scientists say a twenty second hug

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is long enough to release the well being, boosting hormones,

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OxyContin and serotonin. Anything else is awkward. The airport does say, however,

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we do not have hug police yet. Those are five

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kid do stories for today. If you enjoy the program,

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tell a friend about it. They would like it too.

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don't hug too long, and have an awesome day.