Landmine-Detecting Rodent Breaks Record
- Editor OGN Daily
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
A specially trained landmine-detecting rat in Cambodia has set a new world record.
It has become the first rodent to uncover more than 100 mines and other deadly war remnants. Ronin, an African giant pouched rat, has uncovered 109 landmines and 15 items of unexploded ordnance since 2021, says Apopo, the charity which trains the animals.
Happily, Ronin - and all the other rats deployed by the charity - is not heavy enough to detonate the mines. Furthermore, they are speedy sniffers. The rats can check an area the size of a tennis court in about 30 minutes, whereas a human with a metal detector might take four days to clear the same land.
The BBC reports that since Apopo's work began 25 years ago, the organisation has cleared 169,713 landmines and other explosives worldwide - more than 52,000 have been in Cambodia.
The Guinness Book of World Records said that Ronin's "crucial work" is making a real difference to people who have had to live with the "fear that one misstep while going about their day-to-day lives could be their last."
Ronin's impressive work in Cambodia has surpassed the previous record held Magawa, a Gambian pouched rat, who sniffed out 71 mines and 38 other unexploded devices. He was presented with a gold medal for his heroism in 2020, and retired in 2021.