The world is filled with problems of all different types. For millions of people around the world, one of the biggest problems is land mines. These mines are installed by the thousands during wars, and when a war is abandoned, the mines remain, representing a constant risk to the civilians living in the surrounding area.

These mines have killed about 20,000 people and injured another 45,000 since 1979, many of whom were children who were playing in a literal mine field.

The thing about land mines is that they are intentionally difficult to find (until it’s too late). There are a variety of different techniques to locate and safely dig up these mines, but they are typically expensive and time-consuming. Sadly, the parts of the world where these landmines are most common are also poor areas where they don’t have the resources to deal with the problem.

With millions of landmines still out there, the work to get rid of them is essential and it is taken on by a number of different government and non-government agencies. In some heartwarming news on this front, Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development (APOPO), which is a Belgian non-governmental organization, has just broken a Guinness World Record in its effort to clear landmines.

What is that record? Well, you would never guess. It is kind of weird, kind of cute, and 100% heroic.

Ronin is a rat that just broke the record for detecting the record for most landmines by a rat in history.

You read that right.

APOPO works on many different landmine detection and disposal options, and one of them is training African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys ansorgei) to sniff out landmines so that they can be removed. This effort has been going on for over 25 years now, and the rats are shockingly good at it.

Ronin was first put to work in August of 2021, working in the Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia region. Since then, he has discovered 109 landmines as well as 15 items of ‘unexploded ordnance (UXO). Given how spread out these landmines can be, this is a huge number that have been removed, possibly saving many lives.

For those curious, the previous record holder was Magawa, who found 71 landmines and 38 UXOs over the course of 5 years. That rat died in 2021.

These rats are highly trained and generally seem to enjoy the work (or more likely, the food they are rewarded with). They only work for around 30 minutes today to ensure they don’t get overheated by the sun, and the rest of the time they enjoy living in their rat homes where they can enjoy themselves.

In a statement from APOPO honoring their rats, they said:

“Our HeroRATs are not just workers; they are cherished members of our team. Ensuring their well-being, both during and after their working lives, is our absolute priority.”

Once the rats get older (they generally live around 8 years) and can’t effectively sniff out mines anymore, they are sent to a retirement facility to live out their lives in comfort.

Learn more about this record breaking rat in this video:

These rats are an important part of the global effort to remove landmines. Chrisophe Cox, the CEO of APOPO, said:

“When we launched APOPO, the common view was that it would take around 500 years to clear all landmines from the Earth’s surface. Twenty-five years later, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and if the international community fully supports the collaboration of all de-mining operators, we could clear the remaining minefields in our lifetime”.

This is great news for humanity, thanks in no small part to these incredible rats.

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