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Pangolins: Two dogs team up to save with conservation of endangered creatures

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Buster and Bess to help save endangered pangolins

Two special police dogs are teaming up to sniff out pangolins in Thailand that could be in danger.

Labradors Buster and Bess have just graduated from a training programme with the police, and are flying out to Thailand in April.

They'll be sniffing out for animals like the endangered pangolin to help stop people from smuggling them out of the country.

The two dogs are a part of a new team to help to protect endangered animals in Thailand.

Protecting Pangolins

Image source, Fabian von Poser
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Meet the very scaly pangolin!

Pangolins are small mammals with long claws and scales. You might know them by one of their signature moves - they roll up into a ball when they're scared or in danger.

They are extremely rare - and are currently considered critically endangered, which means there aren't many of them left.

Conservationists - people who look after animals and nature - want to help the pangolins and keep the species going.

However, in Thailand, pangolins are often illegally taken out of the country by people who want to sell them to make money, in what's known as poaching.

With a great sense of smell, Labradors are friendly, calm, and extremely trainable.

Buster and Bess to the rescue!

Image source, Reuters
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Meet the super-dogs!

This is where the two super-dogs come in.

Buster and Bess - who are both Labradors - are going to be trained to sniff out pangolins to make sure people aren't illegally taking them out of the country.

They had a special visit to the London Zoo, where they met some of their conservation teammates. They also got to see the zoo's penguin colony.

Pangolin Specialist Georgina Gerard said "not all heroes wear capes: some walk on all fours and have extremely powerful noses".

This isn't the first time dogs have been used to help protect animals - police sniffer dogs were sent to Mongolia to help protect wildlife from being smuggled.

Journey to Thailand

Image source, Reuters
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Buster and Bess met a fluffy toy pangolin on their trip to the London Zoo

In April the dogs will make their journey over to Thailand, where they will work with experts in the community.

The key locations they will be trying are roads, airports and ports, which pangolins are often moved through illegally.

If they do find any pangolins, a team of vets and conservationists will look after them before releasing them back into the wild.

How are dogs trained to sniff things?

Professional dog trainers use treats and toys with the specific scent that they want dogs to pick out, to encourage dogs to react when they smell it.

In Thailand, the team will start by mixing the smell the dogs have got used to with the smell of pangolins, and then eventually move over to just the pangolin smell so they know what to look out for.

This technique can be done for lots of different things - they're clever creatures!