Giant rats put to work detecting mines

Picture / Reuters

MOZAMBIQUE - Gambian giant pouch rats are being put to work in Vilancoulos, southern Mozambique, to detect mines planted in the country's 20-year civil war.

The rats are trained from an early age to associate the scent of explosives with a food reward and indicate the suspected presence of explosives by grooming and scratching the earth.

The rats, which grow as large as a domestic cat, have a sense of smell as powerful as that of a dog. They have also been used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis by smelling blood samples in a Belgian research programme.

The clearing of Mozambique's many minefields is funded by international donations, the country's non-government organisations and the Government.