“Warning—Hero Rats At Work” shows the fantastic work that the Apopo staff and their rats perform in detecting landmines and clearing land for the local populations to inhabit safely. The video shows the final certification test for the handlers. Note the precision with which they execute all steps. The rats had been certified earlier, so we knew they would perform. The handlers did too.
Apopo trains also rats of the same species to detect tuberculosis in saliva samples from potentially affected patients.
The methods we use to train the rats are the same we use for all other species, only adjusted to the species, the Giant Gambian Pouched Rat, Cricetomys gambianus. Roger Abrantes spent two years in Africa working with the Hero Rats and writing the SOP and training manual.
To know more about scent detection, see our course Canine Scent Detection.
Quiz (for students wishing to earn study credits)
"Warning—Hero Rats At Work" Video Quiz
You have five minutes to complete this quiz.