14 DAY TRIAL // After concluding that giant rats have the perfect land mines detector potential, British authorities decided to invest almost one million dollars into perfecting their skills. Some may believe that the annoying rodents are disposable but after investing these kinds of funds, one might think twice.
In order to save lives by removing the mines and undetonated explosives encountered in Africa, UK's Department of International Development decided to fund a training program for rodents. The nine-month training involves a special species of rats that will learn to sniff out concealed bombs and alert workers on their resting place.
The rats are taught to search and sniff around big areas of land in order to reveal hidden explosives. After finding the dangerous equipment, the animals point to the locations with a special induced behavior and technicians remove the threats.
Not all kinds of rats are fit for the program as only the giant, almost three-foot (91.5 centimeters) long, Gambian rodents have the perfect weight and skills to successfully accomplish the goals. These particular rats are light enough to find the mines by walking around them without setting them off.
The trained rodents are believed to be much more efficient that human land mines detecting equipment, as they can cover an area 14 times larger and with smaller costs. Dubbed the “Herorats,” the trained rodents can save a lot of human lives by helping remove dangerous ammunition and mines resting on African land.
Until now, almost 2,500 mines and 14,000 pieces of exploding devices from the 1990's civil war were recovered just in Mozambique, notes Daily Mail. The British funds not only helped remove live-threatening arms and get people out of harm's way, but also managed to free entire lands for crops and harvests.
The Gambian rats are some of the most intelligent rodents and hold an incredibly powerful sense of smell, making them perfect for detecting mines and hidden explosives. The rats are known to have a poor sight, but for this type of work that doesn't count as much as the other senses making them more than qualified.