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.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS