Updated 1-1-00 * Copyright 1999-2000 by Andrew Homer.
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Landmines
Rats Train As Landmine Detectors
Dec 30, 1999
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Trained rats may be the best
and cheapest form of landmine detector, Belgian researchers said Thursday.
Antwerp-based research group Apopo said it had taught its African Giant Pouched rats to recognize the smell of
dynamite and believed the rodents were ready to start training in earnest in Tanzania.
"Rats have certain advantages over dogs, which are often used for detection purposes, and they live as long,"
Apopo's chief technical engineer Christophe Cox told Reuters.
"They have a better sense of smell, are cheaper to keep and maintain, they are more resistant to tropical
diseases and, since they are smaller, you can transport more. Plus they are very suitable for repetitive tasks,"
Cox said.
Apopo, which has Belgian government financing for its six-year research project, said rats could be used both
to mark the mined area and to pinpoint the position of individual landmines.
To identify the minefield, laboratory rats are given soil samples to smell, and indicate the presence of dynamite
vapor by pressing one of two levers.
Once the minefield has been mapped, the rats sniff out a landmine and sit beside it waiting to be rewarded with
food, imitating their behavior in the wild when they bury food and use their sense of smell to find it again.
"This could be a cheap solution and, since it is also simple and does not involve a lot of technical equipment,
it is something countries could do for themselves," Cox said.
The project will now move to Tanzania, where the rats will be trained on real terrain rather than in sand boxes.
Cox said he hoped the rats would be ready for action in two years.
"Of course, it may be necessary to have them on a lead working an area of maybe 10-15 square meters at a
time to stop them from running off," he said.
