Sniffer Rats Detect Landmines

Now for something completely different! I am not a big fan of the little buggers but apparently rats of the giant African pouch variety can be trained to sniff out landmines.

Light, with an acute sense of smell and easily motivated by food rewards, giant African pouched rats have been found to be highly effective in mine detection by APOPO, the Dutch non-governmental organization that launched the training project - the first of its kind - in this Tanzanian town.

The rodents are trained to detect the TNT in landmines through Pavlovian conditioning: A click sound to signal a food reward whenever they make the correct detection.

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Training begins at four weeks old when the baby rats are exposed to humans to rid them of their fear of people and new surroundings, after which they are taught to associate a click sound with food.

Once that is achieved, they are then trained to distinguish a TNT scent from other smells. When they successfully distinguish it, the click is sounded and they are given a bit of banana, thus reinforcing the link between positive TNT identification and food.

In all, it takes nine months of painstaking on and off-field training for a rat to be deployed for mine detection.

"This work is not easy," recounts trainer Abdullah Mchomvu, holding a rat cage under his left arm. "You have to be patient. Sometimes I get frustrated, but then again I tell myself these are animals."

But "this work saves lives", he added.

It takes two deminers a day to clear a 200 sq m minefield, but if they work with two rats they can sweep it in two hours.

"Detection is the most difficult, dangerous and expensive part of mine action. Since rats are much easier to train than dogs, rats in this environment are much more appropriate," said Bart Weetjens, the founder of APOPO.

"They are very effective. We have very high success rates. So far they have helped re-open almost 2 million sq m of land" in Mozambique.

By: Shelldrake