Cambodia’s Hero Rats Outsniff 10,000 Land Mines as Dogs Judge Their Technique

Cambodia’s hero rats have unearthed over 10,000 land mines, all while demining dogs critique their sniffing finesse. “Can rats really detect explosives?” and “What animals are used for bomb detection?” top search queries as these whiskered specialists canvas fields near Battambang. Rodents, trained by APOPO, outpace canine colleagues, prompting one handler to muse, “The rats work fast—almost too fast for the dogs to keep up.”
While dogs observe rat deminers’ tunneling flair, a new milestone emerges: a single rodent uncovers 41 mines in one day, sparking “How effective are rats in demining?” and “Why use animals for land mines?” as breakout queries. Picture a Labrador clipboard in paw, silently judging a pouch rat’s technique—Cambodia’s countryside becomes a surreal, interspecies job interview for explosive-sniffing supremacy.
APOPO’s African giant pouched rats can clear 200 square meters in 30 minutes—leaving dogs to ponder career pivots or simply critique rodent form from the shade.