Sentinel species

Sentinel species are organisms, often animals, used to detect risks to humans by providing advance warning of a danger.

The idea of placing a warm-blooded animal in a mine to detect carbon monoxide was first proposed by John Scott Haldane in 1895,[2] and canaries were used as early as 1896.

In some cases, the canaries were kept in cages with dedicated oxygen tanks so the birds could survive after their illness provided a warning.

[12] Yushō disease was discovered when poultry began dying at alarming rates due to polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) poisoning, although not before approximately 14,000 people were affected.

Finding mildew on the roses is therefore sometimes taken as an early warning sign to take preventive measures to protect the adjacent vines.

[1]: 35  Similarly both bats and swallows have been used to monitor pesticide contamination due to their diet of insects that may have been affected by the chemicals.

These include honey bees for air pollution, bivalve molluscs[17] for online water-quality survey and pigeons for atmospheric lead.

[19][20][21] The Protivin brewery in the Czech Republic uses crayfish outfitted with sensors to detect any changes in their bodies or pulse activity in order to monitor the purity of the water used in their product.

[19] The discovery of West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere was heralded by an outbreak of disease in crows and other wild birds.

Other emerging diseases have demonstrated linkages between animal health events and human risk, including monkeypox, SARS, and avian influenza.