An African giant pouched rat is receiving accolades for his lifesaving work on the other side of the globe—and that work has just earned him a world record. Guinness is now celebrating Ronin—a 5-year-old Tanzania-born "super rat" that CNN notes is about the size of a house cat—for using his keen sense of smell to uncover 109 land mines and 15 other unexploded pieces of ordnance in the Siem Reap area of Cambodia from August 2021 through February of this year.
Ronin, one of 100-plus rats trained for such work (check him out in action here) by the land mine detection group APOPO, tracks down the scent of explosive chemicals and then alerts his handlers. The organization estimates there are as many as 6 million unexploded land mines in Cambodia, left behind after a decades-long civil war there that ended in 1998, per the BBC. It's dangerous work, but thanks to their small, light bodies that don't trigger the mines, as well as their olfactory skills, rats are able to effectively carry out the job—the BBC notes that while it can take a metal detectoring human four days to pore over a piece of land the size of a tennis court, a trained rat can perform the same task in 30 minutes.
The rats' efforts have transformed them from "reviled vermin to superhero service animals," per Guinness. Plus, APOPO says it hasn't lost one of its land-mine-sniffing rats yet. As for Ronin, his "intelligence and natural curiosity help him stay engaged. Finding land mines is like a fun game to him, and no two days are the same," says APOPO rep Lily Shallom, who praises the industrious rat for his "sharp focus" and a "strong work ethic."
story continues below
Ronin and the other rats sniffing out land mines aren't the only ones helping out humankind: Some rodents have also been commissioned to sniff out diseases and wildlife trafficking. Want to virtually "adopt" Ronin? Applications are being solicited for him and other "hero" rats here. (More rats stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
