Sapper rats are better than metal detectors. Free Technical Library News

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Sapper rats are better than metal detectors

28.09.2015

In Cambodia, where more than 1970 million anti-personnel mines were planted during the civil war in the 6s, unexpected helpers are used to detect mines. They turned out to be specially trained rats that work not only better than metal detectors, but also sapper dogs.

Gambian hamster rats not only sniff out mines faster, but also cover large areas at a much faster rate than larger sappers. Due to their weight, rats cannot be blown up by an anti-personnel mine, their sense of smell is much stronger than that of dogs, and they work autonomously, without the handler that dogs need.

Rodent sappers are trained by the non-profit organization "Apopo", which was founded in 1998 by the creator of the project, Bart Vidzhens, an engineer from Antwerp. Rats are trained from birth to sniff out TNT, after which they must explore the training minefield and correctly mark the place where they found the mine, after which the rodents receive a reward. After nine months of training, the rats are ready to start the real demining.

On the spot, the rats are put on a collar and led around the field with a long pole. Having found a mine, the rodent does not try to dig it out, but only mark it so that specially trained people will take care of the projectile. Rats are incredibly efficient, covering a 200-square-meter area in thirty minutes, while it takes at least three days for human sappers.

After five years of work, the sapper rodents retire and live out the rest of their lives at the Apopo headquarters in Tanzania, where they are cared for and fed.

In total, Gambian rats have found 56 mines and unexploded ordnance since the organization's inception and cleared an area of about 000 million square meters.

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