- The African giant pouched rat from Tanzania has also found an additional 15 pieces of unexploded ordnance
- Ronin surpassed previous record holder Magawa, who identified 71 land mines and 38 unexploded ordnance items
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
At the break of dawn, Ronin’s handler gently sets him down at the edge of a suspected minefield.
A lightweight harness, attached to a thin rope, wraps snugly around the rat’s small torso, guiding him methodically across the terrain. With an eager twitch of his whiskers and the promise of a slice of avocado – his favorite treat – Ronin takes his first cautious steps forward.
The landscape is quiet, punctuated only by the faint rustle of Ronin’s movements through dry grass and brush. He sniffs the air attentively, tuned to the slightest trace of TNT, the chemical marker of hidden land mines.
Unlike human deminers burdened by cumbersome metal detectors – devices often fooled by innocuous debris – Ronin’s exceptional olfactory precision enables him to ignore scrap metal and focus solely on explosives. He covers an area equivalent to a tennis court in just 30 minutes – a task that might take a human up to four days.
Suddenly, Ronin stops, his body stiffening. He vigorously scratches at the earth – a clear signal that a mine lurks below. His handler marks the spot and rewards Ronin with his promised avocado treat, signaling the end of another day of high-stakes work.
Ronin’s work has just earned global recognition: a Guinness World Record for the most land mines detected by a rat – 109 so far, all in the Preah Vihear province of Cambodia.
The 5-year-old African giant pouched rat from Tanzania has also found an additional 15 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) since being deployed in Cambodia by APOPO, a non-profit group headquartered in Belgium that trains rats and dogs to detect land mines and tuberculosis.
He surpassed the previous record holder, Magawa, who identified 71 land mines and 38 UXOs during a five-year career, and died in retirement in January 2022.
“Ronin’s work is far from finished. At just five years old, he may have two years or more of detection work ahead of him, continuing to build on his already record-breaking total,” APOPO said in a statement on Friday.
‘Something to be truly proud of’
Ronin began his journey in Morogoro, a city in eastern Tanzania, at an APOPO training center, going through comprehensive drills that honed his exceptional abilities.
“These rats have an incredible sense of smell,” Pendo Msegu, animal welfare officer at APOPO, said in an interview with Anadolu. “We’ve taught them to detect land mines, and they do it with astonishing accuracy.”
The training process, she explained, is meticulous, requiring patience and trust. “It starts with building a bond,” she said. “We create a system of communication, teaching them to recognize the scent of explosives using tiny bomb particles. Over time, they learn that finding the scent leads to a reward. That’s how we make them experts.”
From a young age, Ronin and his fellow rats are introduced to clicker training, associating the sound with rewards such as bananas or peanuts. Their training involves systematically searching within a defined grid, scratching at the ground to indicate the location of land mines.
Msegu has spent years refining this method, and its success speaks for itself.
“This technology has been over 99% effective,” she said. “Because of it, we’ve worked in Mozambique, Angola – places once littered with hidden dangers. Now, those lands are safe again. People can walk freely without fear of stepping on a mine.”
Adam Millward, managing editor of Guinness World Records, also hailed the critical impact of the work being done by mine detection rats.
“Guinness World Records feats are not always just about smashing milestones,” he was quoted as saying in Friday’s statement. “Sometimes they can be about smashing preconceptions too. The life-changing results of APOPO’s HeroRATs, their handlers, and all the people involved with training and caring for these incredible animals is a revelatory example of the good that can be achieved when humans and animals work together.”
For Msegu, the international recognition for Ronin validates her life’s mission as a rodent training supervisor: “I feel so proud. To think that animals born right here in Tanzania are out there, saving human lives – it’s something to be truly proud of.”
