Hola!
It’s been a long time since I last wrote here, and oh my god! So many things have piled up that I want to share! (I don’t know what happened, I literally turned on Baldur’s Gate to test it and without realizing it months have passed!)
I was in Asia last month, and now I want to tell you about the crown jewel of a dream trip: APOPO and the HERORATS. Cambodia still faces a serious landmine problem (to be more specific, around 6 million explosive problems), and the most effective method they’ve found so far involves African rats.
Specifically, they use a species called Cricetomys ansorgei, also known as African giant pouched rats. They’re super smart, easy to train, and have an insanely powerful sense of smell ā basically little superheroes with sensitive noses.
Why rats and not conventional landmine detectors? Because they have so many advantages! Rats can sniff up to two meters underground, while most conventional detectors only work at the surface. That’s why these rats are trained using behavioral methods (if you’ve studied psychology, you’ll know what I mean!). From the time they’re very small, they’re trained to detect the smell of gunpowder and are given small rewards every time they find even the tiniest trace during training.
Another huge advantage is that, despite being giant rats, they weigh just over 1.5 kg. Since landmines are triggered from 3 kg and up, this means the same rat can be used to search for mines over and over again, and the mines are then deactivated manually.
And get this ā they’re not just mine detectors. Some HeroRats are also trained to detect tuberculosis in human samples. AMAZING, isn’t it? They can analyze hundreds of samples per day and detect positive cases faster than traditional lab methods. So yeah, they’re saving lives in hospitals too!
These giant, furry rats literally save thousands of lives every year. They’re extremely well cared for and pampered daily, and veterinarians check their health every single day to make sure they’re still working at 100%.
Why African rats and not Asian ones, you might ask? I wondered the same! Turns out African giant rats have the longest lifespan among rats (up to 10 years!), and considering that training each rat costs ā¬6000, the longer they live, the more the investment pays off.
The rat Iām holding so happily in the photo is Ratata! She gave us a live demo of the method they use to detect mines. She’s absolutely adorable and amazing.
