They wondered: Could Ms. Luongo train Riley to detect insects that tend to eat through textiles and wood when given the chance? As is, the museum has a variety of pest-control tactics, including quarantining new artwork before it’s placed in galleries. “Every insect we’ve been able to work with, we’ve been able to train dogs to accurately and consistently detect them,” he said. His company has trained dogs to discover sea turtle eggs buried under three feet of sand and identify scat from bears. And utility companies have trained dogs to detect the signature odors of natural gas to detect pipeline leaks.

Source: New York Times January 11, 2018 17:24 UTC