Land mine detecting rats
Landmines kill or maim at least 96 people a day and those victims are often from the poorest countries on Earth. The expense of planting a single landmine can be as little as £2.50, yet clearing it can cost over £600 with traditional methods, so for those nations worst affected it is costly on a both a human and financial front.
But a novel and unique solution has been found to detect landmines: Rats.
Cheaper to breed and easier to maintain than dogs, the African Giant Pouched Rat has an acute sense of smell and, crucially, weighs less than a dog and is therefore less likely to detonate a landmine when it steps on it.
On average, one rat can clear 200 square metres in 30 minutes, the equivalent of two days' work for a manual de-miner.
Another added bonus is that the African Giant Pouched Rat has a natural resistance to tropical diseases, something which also limits the life expectancy of its canine counterparts. This sturdy constitution has become invaluable since scientists discovered that the rats are also very effective at detecting evidence of tuberculosis in humans.
While a lab technician can only go through 40 samples in a day, one rat can process 70 test samples in ten minutes. Though the programme is still in the testing and development stage, the rats could prove a major weapon in fighting TB, which remains one o
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