What is a hero rat?

APOPO’s scent detection animals, nicknamed ‘HeroRATs’ and ‘HeroDOGs’, help to rid the world of landmines and tuberculosis – returning safe land back to communities for development, and freeing people from serious illness so they can get back on their feet.

Why is APOPO important?

APOPO is a global non-profit organization that researches, develops and implements detection rats technology for humanitarian purposes such as clearing landmines and detecting tuberculosis.

Is APOPO a charity?

APOPO is a non-profit organization with Belgian roots. For 20 years we have tackled landmines or tuberculosis around the world.

What were the HeroRATs trained to do?

Our African giant pouched rats, nicknamed HeroRATs, are helping to find landmines and detecting tuberculosis as part of an integrated approach. When deployed alongside standard methods, they speed up the process, getting people’s lives back on track as fast as possible.

Who is Magawa rat?

Magawa the rat, who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, is retiring from his job detecting landmines. Magawa was trained by the Belgium-registered charity Apopo, which is based in Tanzania and has been raising the animals – known as HeroRATs – to detect landmines since the 1990s.

How long does it take to train a hero rat?

APOPO’s HeroRATs take around nine months to fully train. Throughout they are extremely well cared for, receiving an excellent diet, regular exercise, much personal attention and scheduled playtime, as well as regular care from a vet.

How big is an African pouched rat?

The Gambian pouched rat is native to Africa and is the world’s largest rat, reaching up to 9 pounds. The average size is 3 pounds, measuring 20-35 inches from the head to the tip of the tail.

How do rats sniff out landmines?

Though they have terrible eyesight, the rats are ideal for such work, with their extraordinary sense of smell and their size – they are too light to trigger the mines. When they detect a mine, they lightly scratch atop it, signaling to their handler what they’ve found.

Is Magawa still alive?

The African giant pouched rat has been the most successful rodent trained and overseen by a Belgian nonprofit, APOPO, to find land mines and alert his human handlers so the explosives can be safely removed. After five years of sniffing out land mines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia, Magawa is retiring.

Who buried land mines in Cambodia?

The Chinese-made landmines in Cambodia were placed by the Cambodian factions (including the Lon Nol, Khmer Rouge, the United States, the Heng Samrin and Hun Sen regimes, as well as the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea who, with international support retained the UN seat throughout much of the 1980s) which …