Why This Adorable Rat Has Been Awarded A Gold Medal For Bravery

An organization called APOPO (which translates into English as Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development) has a mission: to rid the world of its millions of landmines. And it’s come up with an ingenious program – a sniff-and-detect service helmed by a fleet of trained rodents. They’re all skilled, of course, but one rodent has risen above the rest.

Magawa – and the rest of APOPO’s rodent army – are African giant pouched rats, so they’re not the creepy critters you’d see scuttling across subway tracks or through back alleys. They can reach up to 3 feet in length, with half of that measurement made up by the creature’s extra-long tail.

These are some big rats, but that’s not the feature that drew landmine-detection teams to enlist their help. For one thing, Magawa and his friends have an incredible sense of smell, which means they can sniff out explosive devices. And they’re lightweight enough to walk up to a bomb without triggering its detonation. Thank god.

The fact that people can train rats to perform such tasks is a feat in itself. But Magawa has proven just how much a rodent can accomplish in such an unlikely role. The rodent, born in 2014 and shipped to Cambodia in 2016, has had five years on the job, and he has made some incredible strides in that time.

And now a special medal dangles from Magawa’s neck because his work has grabbed the attention of the world. Let’s not forget his peers, too, who’ve done some pretty special things. But this award-winning rodent earned his prize for good reason – he has done so much good for Cambodians who have long lived in fear of the bombs hidden around them.

Rats have been a fixture of science laboratories around the world for years – but you might not realize how long they have served as test subjects. The earliest records put rats in labs around the 16th century. But it took until the early 20th century for their place in the research field to become what it is today.

There are plenty of reasons why rats have become a researcher’s best friend, even if this has been controversial at times. One thing is that the rodents are easy to train. This makes them great test subjects, of course. And so does the fact that they have a strong sense of smell – it was this that got Bart Weetjens thinking.

Weetjens had a pet rat himself, so he knew that these rodents were more than just pests. But then, in September 1995, he came across the aforementioned research, which signaled that gerbils, in particular, could be used as scent detectors. He started to wonder if his four-legged friend could serve the same purpose.

Yup, Weetjens envisioned rats taking on a noble role: sniffing out landmines hidden just under the earth’s surface. There are 110 million of them scattered across the world, it’s believed, whilst invisible to the eye. And countries from Egypt to Croatia to Mozambique to Cambodia have millions within their borders.

It wasn’t just Weetjens who believed in the possibility of rat-led landmine detection. His one-time schoolmate Christophe Cox joined him, and together they launched the APOPO Project in November 1997. The Belgian government provided a grant for them to do their research: could rats detect landmines without harming themselves or their human handlers?

Cox and Weetjens landed on the African giant pouched rat as the best type of rodent for the job. This species has an eight-year lifespan, which meant they’d be able to make the most of the training required to turn them into bona fide bomb detectors. So the duo bred their first rat and, by June 1999, they got approval to transfer their operation to Africa.

The African giant pouched rats were proving their worth because they weren’t at risk of triggering the landmines, either. They are lightweight enough that they can stand over the mines they find, while indicating to a handler that they’ve found them. What do they get in reward for their efforts? A banana.

APOPO’s training program is an extensive one. The rats have an 8,600-square-foot stretch of land where they practice pinpointing landmines – and the tests get harder and harder. Plus only rodents who pass the test with 100 percent accuracy get the chance to use their skills in the real world.

Cox told NPR in 2020 just how much the team trusts the rats who make it through the training process mistake-free. He said, “We really trust our rats, because very often after clearing a minefield, our teams will play a game of soccer on the cleared field to assure the quality of our work.” Wow.

And their soccer celebrations take place much quicker than they would with humans carrying out the landmine-detection process. Cox explained, “That’s why we came up with the idea of using rats, because rats are fast. They can screen an area of 200 square meters in half an hour – something which would take a manual deminer four days.”

Rats make the entire landmine-removal process cheaper, too. Cox described detection as, “the most expensive and tedious part of the problem.” Thus APOPO’s well-trained rodents have been a huge resource, not just in Africa – they’ve made their way to other countries with notoriously high numbers of hidden explosives.

And the non-profit organization doesn’t only deal with rats, either: they’ve built up their landmine-detection arsenal to include other skilled creatures. APOPO partners its HeroRAT program with HeroDOG, where experts find dogs with the aptitude and desire to learn new tricks. And those pups go through rigorous training, where, just like the rats, they have to pass their tests with 100 percent accuracy.

These pups can cover 4,000 square meters each day, and they put their well-honed sense of smell to good use as they work. And they can pinpoint the scent of explosive materials even across rough terrain and thick vegetation. Plus dogs know how to ignore scrap metal, making them more effective signalers than even a metal detector.

Both APOPO’s dogs and rats work extensively in Cambodia, a country that has been plagued by landmines for decades. This goes back to the Cambodian Civil War in the late 1960s and 1970s, where the Kingdom of Cambodia fought against Communist forces known as the Khmer Rouge.

After the Kingdom of Cambodia – particularly, its allies, the Vietnamese Army – pushed the Khmer Rouge out of power, they used landmines to ensure they wouldn’t trickle back in. So while the country is now at peace, its fields are still full of lurking landmines. Which isn’t exactly a great legacy to have.

Some estimates put the total number of landmines in Cambodia at up to ten million. Yet the country has made strides toward removing the dangerous devices. Non-profits, such as the HALO Trust, employ thousands of people who help unearth the explosives. And then, of course, there’s APOPO and its fleet of four-legged mine-detectors.

Plus it’s not just the locals who’ve noticed the impact that these creatures have had in Cambodia. The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, or PDSA, is a UK charity based 6,200 miles away from the bomb-laden lands where APOPO’s rats work to save lives. And it was quite impressed with their bravery and brilliance.

The PDSA’s main focus is animal welfare, providing veterinary care to United Kingdom-based pets whose owners can’t afford it. But the charity also hands out prestigious awards to worthy animals, and has since the Second World War. At that time, the organization’s founder, Maria Dickin, felt inspired by the valiant creatures serving on the front lines with soldiers.

So the PDSA created the Dickin Medal and handed out the first one in 1943. Since then, 72 animals – including dogs, pigeons, horses and a cat – have been bestowed with the honor. But that award could only go to creatures that had served as part of the Armed Forces or on Civil Defense squadrons.

Yet in 2002 – nearly 60 years after the creation of the Dickin Medal – the PDSA added a “Gold Medal” to the list of honors they could bestow upon hard-working animals. And this one highlights “civilian acts of animal bravery and exceptional devotion of duty,” rather than those in the military.

One such honoree was Teddy the cockapoo, who received his Gold Medal in 2018. The dog’s heroic act took place at home, but it was still worthy of the high honor. The pooch had alerted its owners after their young son had climbed into a tumble dryer, triggering its cycle. Teddy’s quick actions had saved the boy’s life, the PDSA said.

And Teddy is one of 30 recipients of the PDSA Gold Medal, as of March 2021. While nearly all of those honorees have been dogs, 2020 saw a new kind of four-legged hero taking home the award. Because on September 25 of that year, the prestigious bauble went to an African giant pouched rat named, you’ve guessed it, Magawa.

Magawa’s life began in Tanzania in 2014, and he was bred by the APOPO team for one specific purpose: landmine detection. He spent two years in the African nation, where his handlers socialized and trained him. Then, in 2016, they shipped him off to Cambodia, where he’d embark on his life’s work.

There, Magawa’s five years on the job for APOPO have proven incredibly fruitful. He zips across the areas he has to test and clear. And it takes him 30 minutes to cover a tennis-court-sized stretch of land – for example – when it would take a person wielding a metal detector a whopping four days.

Magawa’s fast-moving yet thorough work has pushed him to the top of his cohort of mine-detecting rats. During his tenure with APOPO, he has cleared a stunning 1.5 million square feet of land. That’s roughly the equivalent of 20 soccer fields – a lot of territory over which the rodent had to walk.

And in all of that searching, the standout rodent discovered 39 landmines, as well as 28 unexploded devices. His hard work has impressed many people, including So Malen, who was his handler. She told the PDSA, “I am so proud because Magawa is a great partner for me.”

Clearing such huge swathes of land has made a difference to the lives of many people, too. A farmer in the affected area named Tourn Aim said, “I am very happy and thankful, and will never forget them.” He said the reassurance provided by Magawa’s work allowed him to till the land “without fear anymore.”

To those working behind the scenes at APOPO, Magawa’s recognition from the PDSA meant a huge deal. Cox accepted the award on the rat’s behalf and pointed out how it would affect his staff. He highlighted its significance to the trainers at Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture, for one.

Cox said, “It means a lot to our trainers, because they are working day and night to get the best performance out of our HeroRATS.” But most important to the team was that Magawa’s award, and his subsequent moment in the spotlight, would bring attention to the organization’s efforts – and its ongoing need for financial donations.

Global awareness for the issue was vital, Cox said, “because landmines still terrorize the lives of so many Cambodians and other people around the world.” But drawing attention to the problem – and receiving backing from concerned citizens – would help APOPO achieve its goal of removing all such devices in the future.

Cox concluded, “We hope that we can solve the landmine problem in the next five to ten years but it needs the engagement and the support of the wider public. That is also why this award is very important for us.” And, with that, he accepted Magawa’s award – which came with a special twist for its tiny recipient.

The PDSA’s director general Jan McLoughlin took a moment to laud Magawa as a “true hero rat” with a “life-saving devotion” to his job. And he could display his recognition proudly, too. “Magawa’s medal has been specially designed to fit onto his work harness, so he can wear it any time,” she said. Ahhhh, cute!

Magawa won’t be wearing his medal round-the-clock, though – he and the rest of the landmine-detection team do have downtime. The rodents get a feast every weekend, for starters. And when they do begin to age and lose their touch, they get to retire to a care facility where they relax 24-7.

Today there’s still more work for the rodents to do, including Magawa. So far their efforts have saved more than one million people from the fear that comes with living near land mines. APOPO, of course, has high hopes to increase that number – and get rid of these explosive devices for good. And it all starts with a few rats.