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.

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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........

© Canberra Times