With their "super-sniffer" noses, African giant-pouched rats are also being trained to lead search-and-rescue missions following earthquakes and other natural disasters.

By Katherine Tutrone

November 28, 2020

This rat could save your life.

Meet Magawa, the “hero rat” with the super sniffer. He’s made headlines for receiving the animal world’s highest medal of honor for his life-saving work detecting unexploded landmines across Cambodia. Magawa’s highly sensitive nose and agility has set him apart from dogs and other detection animals who’ve won the award in the past.

The African giant-pouched rat is much faster than humans at landmine detection: It can search an area the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes, while a human de-miner can take as long as four days.

While Magawa enjoys his viral fame, his brothers and sisters are training their noses at the nonprofit APOPO in Tanzania to help sniff out other threats to humankind. According to the organization, these rats can detect tuberculosis faster and more accurately than standard detection in developing countries. One rat can sniff 100 tuberculosis samples in less than 20 minutes, while a lab technician might take at least 4 days. 

“Our rats and team at APOPO have been able to increase case detection by more than 40% that translates into more than 18,000 people that had originally not been diagnosed at the health clinics,” Cindy Fast, APOPO’s head of training and research, told VICE World News. That’s a big deal for fighting the world’s deadliest infectious disease, which kills nearly 1.5 million people every year. 

Turns out the hero rats’ powerful noses can be used on just about anything that has an odor profile. So they’re currently in training to detect illegally trafficked wildlife, specifically pangolins, by sniffing outside of shipping containers. And they’re also being trained to lead search-and-rescue missions following earthquakes and other natural disasters—their size and nimbleness allows them to sneak under rubble to find trapped humans.

Researchers like Fast are also hopeful the rats could use their noses to detect different cancers, as there may be changes in metabolic processes or tumor growth that emit an odor that rats could pick up. 

Other rat and rodent species might have a sensitive nose, but they don’t live long enough to be trained in the same way African giant-pouched rats are. Hero rats can live at least seven years, which is plenty of time to become a hero.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzw7w/giant-rats-are-sniffing-out-...

Views: 41

Have questions?

Need help? Visit our Support Group for help from our friendly Admins and members!

Have you?

Become a Member
Invited Your Friends
Made new Friends
Read/ Written a Blog
Joined/ Created a Group
Read/ Posted a Discussion
Checked out the Chat
Looked at/Posted Videos
Made a donation this month
Followed us on Twitter
Followed us on Facebook

Donations & Sponsorship

~~~~~~~~~~~
Please consider a donation to help with our continued growth and site costs

Connect

Visit The Temple
on Facebook:

....

Blog Posts

It's Jehovah

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 18, 2025 at 4:39pm 0 Comments

The (NEKH-T) (3l)ohim

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 16, 2025 at 8:00am 0 Comments

The Hidden Temple

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 12, 2025 at 4:00am 0 Comments

The Shenlong

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 10, 2025 at 12:00pm 0 Comments

The Devil's Prophet

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 7, 2025 at 11:00am 0 Comments

The Archdevil(s)

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 5, 2025 at 10:30am 0 Comments

STONE OF YELLOW!

Posted by Rosey Cross on June 2, 2025 at 6:30pm 1 Comment

The Archdevil

Posted by The Draç (李) on June 1, 2025 at 7:30am 0 Comments

The Roc Nation Bloodline

Posted by The Draç (李) on May 28, 2025 at 2:35pm 0 Comments

The Illuminati Li's

Posted by The Draç (李) on May 28, 2025 at 2:34pm 0 Comments

Dead Presidents

Posted by The Draç (李) on May 27, 2025 at 4:35pm 0 Comments

The Black Rite

Posted by The Draç (李) on May 27, 2025 at 7:30am 0 Comments

DO YOU REMEMBER?

Posted by Rosey Cross on March 13, 2025 at 5:28pm 0 Comments

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US?

Posted by Rosey Cross on March 1, 2025 at 6:36pm 0 Comments

NOVEMBER AWARENESS

© 2025   Created by Bryan   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service