On their second job ever, Collette Yee and her partner were assigned a difficult job: locate transient whale poop in the ocean before it sinks. Luckily, Collette was partnered with Jack, a blue heeler mix trained to sniff out cryptic odors from things that conservation biologists have trouble collecting on their own. Producer Berly McCoy reports on Jack and the growing field of dog detection conservation that helps science by sniffing out everything from invasive crabs to diseased plants to endangered species. Interested in more biotech stories? Let us know by dropping a line to [email protected] to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Conductor Robert Frahn says a good melody captures our attention.
And then it moves you through time. Music is architecture in time. If you engage in the moment with what you're listening to, you do lose a sense of the time around you.
How we experience time.
That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR. You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
Okay, Jack's going to take off and go look for the sample.
Emily meets Colette Yee and Jack. Is Jack a dog? Jack is a dog. He is a blue heeler mix with floppy ears and an intense love for playing with his ball. He was originally a shelter dog, but now he is employed. Oh, what's his job? So Jack and Colette work for Rogue Detection Teams based in Rice, Washington, a company that trains rescue dogs to sniff out, well, a lot of things.
And we have a piece of bumblebee nest out right now. Hmm. Bumblebee nest.
Finding live bumblebee nest is something Jack actually was trained to do. He helps with conservation projects. So in search of endangered bees, there was a time that Jack helped scientists learn about their habitat. Wow. Because the nests are kind of hard to find. They are if you're human. But not for Jack. Not for Jack.
Good job, kid. Good job. And he just found the sample, and I give him the stay until I get there, and then he gets his ball.
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