The Animal Employment Agency

动物就业事务所

Discovery

2025-11-25

26 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

We live in a time of automation and robotics; the machines run the factories, and AI will soon take all the jobs. And yet, even today, there are certain niche jobs where only an animal will do. Comedian and biologist Simon Watt is out to meet some of them, and the people who train them, study them, and love them. And he asks the key questions: HOW do they do what they do, and WHY, with all our ingenuity, haven't we invented anything that can compete with them? We start with a business of ferrets (yes, that is their collective noun) at the National Ferret School in Derbyshire, who have swapped rabbit holes and trouser legs for drain-clearing, re-wiring, and laying fibre optic cables. Ferret Trainer James McKay demonstrates why they're perfect for the job, as he casually folds one trainee into a tight pretzel. Simon visits the HQ of 'Medical Detection Dogs', a training facility in Milton Keynes where dogs are being trained to sniff the tell-tale signs of a host of diseases. You may have heard of their 'cancer dogs', but it goes much further: epilepsy, malaria, Parkinson's, even Covid-19. Dr Claire Guest explains. Can technology keep up? Maybe. Although we have no real idea exactly HOW dogs do what they do, AI may be on the cusp of solving this puzzle for us. Simon speaks to Dr Andreas Mershin from start-up Realnose, which is developing “electronic noses". Finally, Simon meets some real heroes. 'HeroRats', to be precise. Not the same species that haunts our sewers, these are African Giant Pouched Rats, and their job as landmine detection specialists is saving lives across Thailand, Mozambique, Cambodia and Zimbabwe. Dr Cynthia Fast from UCLA trains them for the job. Presented by Simon Watt, and produced in Cardiff by Emily Knight
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  • Learn more at lenovo.com slash pro Okay, so this is Emily.

  • She is a year old so I don't know if you notice the smell already Yeah,

  • there's an agricultural aroma I'm standing in a long grassy stretch of garden in North Derbyshire And just to my left is a highly trained professional called Emily,

  • who's getting ready for work.

  • And if you look, you can see her shivering.

  • And people say either she's cold or she's frightened.

  • No, she's not.

  • This is her body getting herself ready,

  • warming up her muscles because she knows she can do some work.

  • You can tell Emily's ready for work by her crisp uniform.

  • Obviously working on an industrial site, she has to have a high vis vest.

  • And now she's all kitted up and ready to go.

  • Emily is a ferret.