It's dangerous work but they never complain. And they get the job done much faster than humans can. One of them can search 200 square metres in 20 minutes, a task which would take humans with metal detectors up to four days. No one knows how many lives they've saved but we can be sure many would have been lost without them.
Nimble and highly intelligent, they've been clearing minefields for years. In Siem Reap in Cambodia, there's a stone statue honouring one of them, who cleared 22 hectares of deadly ordnance during his five-year career from 2016 to 2021.
His name was Magawa, the most famous of the African giant pouched rats deployed to clear mines left by conflicts which ended decades ago. Magawa was trained to sniff out TNT. His light weight meant he could scamper over the ground without detonating the mines buried below. Magawa was much faster than humans because he wasn't distracted by metal and only interested in the chemical signature of explosives.
In 2020, Magawa was awarded the PDSA Gold Medal, the animal equivalent of the George Cross, for his work. He died of old age in 2022. But Magawa's work continues. Last year, fellow rat Ronin set the Guinness World Record for the 109 mines he detected.
Raised and trained by APOPO, a Belgian NGO specialising in training rats and dogs to sniff out not just landmines but tuberculosis as well, the rats have been deployed across Africa and Cambodia.
Videos of them going about their work and interacting with their handlers are remarkable. The words "giant" and "rat" evoke all sorts of horror - disease, filth and cunning malevolence. But these rodents, strapped into tiny harnesses and walked on leashes, are anything but.
Businesslike on the job, they're personable and affectionate when the work day is over. No wonder their handlers say these rats are more than assets, they're upheld as valued partners and colleagues. As they should be.
Rats are highly adaptable and intelligent. Numerous studies of their behaviour point to advanced problem solving skills and the ability to perform complex tasks. Research by Harvard University has shown rats can even distinguish between movies that feature rats and those which don't. They can also learn to recognise a three-dimensional object even if its size has changed or it has been rotated.
Not that I'm about to embrace the rats that very occasionally make incursions into my home after scavenging in the neighbourhood's chook pens. They are disease vectors and, as smart as they might be, their skills don't extend to pooping and peeing in appropriate places. Plus, they startle the hell out of me.
But reading about the mine clearing rats, I have a new appreciation of the pet domestic rats I've encountered out and about with their owners, with whom they have an obviously strong bond. Every one of them has been inquisitive, playful, affectionate and surprisingly clean.
They mightn't be clearing mines or detecting TB but if they're well cared for and provide companionship they, too, deserve to be valued. Rats can be heroes.
HAVE YOUR SAY: What's the most unusual pet you've had? Do animals get the recognition they deserve for the work they do for humans? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Pauline Hanson has been forced to confirm how One Nation's housing policy would work after multiple party members misspoke or could not provide crucial details in separate interviews, one of which was labelled a "trainwreck".
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THEY SAID IT: "I had mice that I kept as pets when I was very young, and I've always liked the way they look. Even rats. I'm not scared of them." - Catherine Deneuve
YOU SAID IT: We bury the truth when we farewell the dead, wrote Garry, whitewashing the lives of the departed. We shouldn't speak ill of the dead, we're told, but sometimes we should.
"I don't think 'Nil nisi bonum de mortuis dicare' will apply to Donald Trump, more 'As ye sow so shall ye reap'," writes Jim. "As a non drinker I am looking forward to making an exception in celebrating his demise with a glass of Champagne."
Phil writes: "As my mum used to say, 'If you've got nothing good to say, say nothing.'"
"Trump is a disgrace the way he speaks so ill of the dead," writes Allan. "However, I must admit I've been to some funerals where I haven't recognised the saintly characters being eulogised in the service, thinking I may have been in the wrong church."
Daniel writes: "I often wonder what drove some leaders to build their excessive mausoleum structures, such as Egypt's pyramids for their pharaohs or the Chinese Emperor Qinshihuang's complex of terracotta warriors. Having visited Napoleon Bonaparte's Pantheon Tomb in Paris, I'm pretty convinced that they are probably built by their cult-like followers. I can't wait to see what President DJT's followers will build. But I'm sure it will match the style of a vulgar architectural philistine."
"We don't do funerals in my family," writes Alison. "There'll be a wake if they want and the ashes scattered, possibly with my son's up in the Daintree. Distance is a problem though. I plan to save everyone the trouble of having to find the words and write my own eulogy - no one else is likely to be honest about it."
"The irony is that there will be a whole world that will say, 'Good riddance' when Trump goes," writes Malcolm from Launceston. "I'd love to give the eulogy."
Helen writes: "My dad, who died in 2001, always told me 'Just tell them what I was like.' My husband and my sister's husband did a great job of just that. They shed a few tears themselves and they also had several people laughing as they mentioned Dad's chronic backseat driving and 'helpful' parking tips. They described exactly the man we all loved and missed. I am pleased I will not be there to hear my weaknesses described at my funeral, but I would rather be described honestly. I hope it will also be done with love."
