Apopo Hero Rats

An alternative method to conventional mine searching with metal detectors is demonstrated at the Apopo Visitor Center. Rats, specially trained to detect the smell of TNT, locate landmines by being guided meter by meter over the area to be cleared. Due to their low weight of up to 1.5 kilograms, they do not trigger the detonators. When they sniff out explosives, they start digging. As a reward, they receive a treat, such as a banana.

Since the rats do not react to every piece of metal, they work much faster than the detectors. We get an idea of how time-consuming the search remains.