Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.s)

Are rats likely to get killed in the detection process?
The rats are trained to detect and pinpoint the location of the landmine. Their small weight makes it highly unlikely they would set of a pressure-activated mine by scratching or pointing. It is a misunderstanding that the rats are trained as Kamikaze to destroy the mines in the field. Trained animals are far too precious to loose to landmines.
On the contrary, the rats used by APOPO are treated with great care and attention, in order to optimize their physical and mental condition.

Which rat?
Rodents are the biggest order of mammals, with more than 2000 species. Among these, APOPO selected the African Giant Pouched rat or ‘Cricetomys gambianus’ for the mine detection task. Though most rats would basically qualify in terms of sensitivity and intelligence, the ‘Cricetomys’ has some inherent advantages for the mine detection task:

  • With a focus on the African continent, the ‘Cricetomys’ is a widespread indigenous species, adapted to the local environment.
  • The Giant Pouched Rat lives in captivity up to eight years, optimizing the return on training investment.
  • The Cricetomys’ relatively big size for a rodent, makes it better fit to work in the field and be observed.
  • The ‘Cricetomys’ is calm, docile and easy to be tamed.
  • Being a wild species, it was assumed that their olfactory capacity would be very well developed.

African Giant Pouched rats weigh between 0,7 and 1,5 kg, and their average body length is 30-40 cm, excluding the tail of 40 cm. They live in burrows underground, where they usually have different chambers. They collect food and other kinds of items in their pouches, store it underground, and always trace their way back by sense of smell – behaviour similar to the de-mining task. Being nocturnal – they are relatively calm and manageable during daytime, though prone to heat strokes if exposed to excessive sunlight.

Do rats smell better then dogs?
Dogs are traditionally renowned for their tracking and sniffing capacities. Can rats match their performance? In the wild, rats can communicate over large distances using olfactory cues. Observing the animal, one can notice its nose being constantly very active and moving. With its rather poor vision, the ‘Cricetomys’ depends largely on its’ sense of smell. One clear advantage of their small size compared to dogs, is that the rats’ nose is always close to the ground, even if its’ head is raised. The highest vapour concentration and the lowest wind speed are found close to the ground. Although trained on TNT, it is not clear which of the nitro aromatic compounds, or even mine casing materials or other cues, are more detected by the animals. Therefore, it is always necessary to re-calibrate the animals on the specific targets found in the demining operations.

How are rats being trained?
APOPO uses a combination of click-training and food rewarding. As such, the rats work for food, and their performance is positively rewarded. Training starts at the age of 5 weeks – when juveniles are weaned from the mother. At first, the animals are nursed for a week by the care takers in order to get used to humans. Then, they are taught to associate the clicking sound with a food reward. After that, they have to perform certain tasks to get this food reward. After odour imprint, the complexity of their tasks is gradually increased.

Probably the main difference with most dog training is that the rats are not taught obedience. Therefore, the total training period can be relatively short. In APOPO’s experience so far the field rats can be trained between 8 to 12 months, and REST rats between 6 to 10 months.

Intellectually, the rats are 'smart' enough to learn the required tasks relatively quickly, while being ‘uncomplicated’ enough for learning to be standardized. Food provides a strong and controllable source of motivation and an effective drive for performance.

How long can a rat work?
Normally, the rats are trained about half an hour per day, five days per week. During this period, they are on a food-for-work diet; while during the weekend they feast on an extensive varied meal.

In the REST analysis, rats can evaluate between 100 and 150 filters in about 15 minutes. In the field, the free running rats scan a 100m2 box in an average of 30 minutes. They can do two boxes in one session.

Are they resistant to tropical diseases?
Veterinary care requirements are relatively small for African giant pouched rats. Since they are endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa, they are less vulnerable to local diseases than imported animals.

Routine care includes daily observations of individual animals, weekly health reports, and regular prevention treatments for endo- and ectoparasites.

What do rats eat?
During the working days, the trained rats live on their reward diet that consists mainly of banana and peanuts. During the weekend, they get a balanced diet of grains, maize, nuts, vegetables, fruits, fish and sometimes insects. This is also the permanent diet for the breeding rats. Rats generally eat a great variety of food, and food supply can rarely be a problem.

Do they need a lot of care and attention?
Captive born rats like to be petted a lot. They enjoy a daily walk, like dogs do. APOPO has several outside pens where the rats can play and get used to an outside environment. Other rats walk around freely in the kennel during clean up of their cages; they don’t attempt to escape, they just enjoy wandering around and exploring new environments.

Is there any cultural problem in handling rats?
In APOPO’s experience, all trainers who have been employed to train the animals (mostly Tanzanians) have picked up the training job quickly. There have been no cases of fear among the trainers, nor cases of mistreating or rough handling of the rats, which could initiate fear in them. In general we observe quite gentle handling and respectful interaction with the animals. Based on this positive experience, APOPO expects that users in the de-mining community will quickly get accustomed to this new approach. Future experience at different locations might reveal cultural differences related to the acceptance of Mine Detection Rats. There have been some areas as well were de-mining dogs were not appreciated on religious grounds .Thus far, the initial reactions of the beneficiary communities and demining organizations are very positive.

Can different people handle one rat?
An important advantage of the rats is their relative independence from a personal handler. Generally, most rats remain with the same trainer, but show no significant difference in performance when taken over by somebody else in the absence of the trainer. Preferably a new handler should be briefed on the specific behavior of individual animals. This has the logistic advantage that a handler does not necessarily have to follow his own animals to the de-mining operations.

What does a trained rat cost?
Rats have a definite cost advantage in terms of maintenance and care, duration of training, as well as kennel-and transport requirements, whereas their time span of operational efficiency is similar that of mine detection dogs. An exact cost calculation of the rodent mine detection technology will only be possible after relevant operational field experience over a period of time. However, at present we estimate that 5€ per month covers basic food, nutrition, and healthcare for one rat. If you factor in all the variables that go into training, evaluation, and care, it costs an average of 6,000 euro to fully train one mine detection rat. A direct comparison with dogs could be made if a detailed cost analysis of mine dog detection is available.

Will rats oust dogs as mine detection animals?
In fact, MD rats and MD dogs are complementary tools within the mine action technology toolbox. One allows for Quality Assurance of the other, whereas both techniques can be deployed as primary detectors.

For the use of rats in the open field, we noticed that rats are good in scanning high-density minefields; they seem to be able to pin-point mine positions easier than dogs in those conditions. Dogs however, can cover bigger distances, and are better in a fast survey. The specific advantages of the use of rats in the REST system are obvious; their small size allows a REST set-up to be small and easily managed. This reflects in working speed through a faster changeover of samples.

Rats tend to work in a more ‘mechanical’ way than dogs.

Dogs have the distinct advantage of being used for mine detection since decades. Consequently there are a lot of training companies and many experienced dog trainers. It might take considerable time and effort for mine detection rats to reach the same acclaim.

What does Apopo mean?
APOPO is an acronym from the Dutch Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende ProductOntwikkeling meaning Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development.

Can I name a rat?
It is possible for rat adoptors to name a rat, for a one time fee of 250€, which includes the adoption fee for a year. However, the updates are a little less frequent and will occur quarterly instead of monthly, as we currently don’t have the staff capacity to report all the rats activities as regularly as we would like to. Additionally, it depends on the availability of newborns at the time of interest. The gestation period is 2 months long for the African Pouched Rat and while we have a number of breeding couples, their delivery time varies, and since many of them are in outdoor breeding cages to simulate the wild, we are not always sure when they will deliver because they are often hidden in their burrows.

How do you find work for the rats? Are you hired by governments to demine?
APOPO has full demining operations under AMAT (APOPO Mine Action Team) in Mozambique. AMAT consists of 3 part integrated system which consists of bush cutting, rats, and manual clearance. When AMAT is assigned full demining tasks assigned, we handle the demining of that area from start to finish- meaning we clear the vegetation, use rats to identify the mines, and manual deminers to demine it. APOPO also provides mine detection services to partner NGOS and external demining operators.