How Do Animals Know When You Are Sick?

we live in a world full of many animals.

We see dogs chasing balls, flies landing on our food, and birds flying around.

but did you know that animals have special abilities?

Some Animals have the ability to detect sickness and cancer.

Dogs, Birds, Fruit Flies, and Rats can all identify different types of sickness.

Cancer is defined as the abnormal growth of cells in the body.

There are many types of cancers and each one affects different parts of your body.

Cancerous cells form and multiply in the body. the type depends on where those cancerous cells are located.

Dogs are trained to detect breast and lung cancer.

Breast cancer creates lumps in the breast.

Lung Cancer starts in the lungs and affects your ability to breathe.

Dogs Detect Cancer Cells

Breast Cancer

Lung Cancer

Pigeons are able to detect breast cancer.

They can also identify the differences between benign and malignant tumors.

A tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue that is hard to control.

Benign means not harmful. malignant means harmful.

Pigeons are put into small cages with a screen showing samples of tissue that may have cancer.

Not every pigeon has this ability though. they need to be properly trained to detect cancerous cells.

Scientists are studying pigeons so that they can be used in hospitals to diagnose patients.

Birds will not detect cancerous cells without being taught.

Mice are able to detect bird flu.

Bird flu is a deadly disease birds get that can be passed on to humans.

Mice can detect the disease in birds before they have a chance to spread the disease to humans.

Mice need to be taught to detect bird flu in birds and humans.

mice can also look at the poop of ducks, and decide which ducks have the disease.

Mice are used in studies to detect bird flu in ducks. When the mice identify duck poop that has bird flu, they are a given a reward.