For the first time ever, the PDSA has awarded a gold medal to a rat. HeroRat Magawa is recognized for his life-saving work in Cambodia that transformed the lives of the citizens in the country.
HeroRat Magawa is a giant pouched rat born in Tanzania in 2014 and was trained to detect landmines by APOPO charity. By age 2, Magawa was already an expert in detecting landmines in Cambodia and has so far found 39 landmines and 28 unexploded items. APOPO is a global nonprofit organization established in the 1990s in Belgium that breeds and trains rat for humanitarian work.
Magawa: The Most Successful Working Rat
Throughout Magawa's career, he has been successful in his work and now recognized as the most successful working rat, thus the nickname "HeroRat." He is also the first rat to be awarded a gold medal by the UK animal charity PDSA for its 77 years in honoring animals.
Other animals have also received an award like dogs, horses, a pigeon, and a cat for their gallantry in protecting their human companions.
Apopo CEO, and co-founder, Christophe Cox, explains that the rats from APOPO speed up the detection of landmine using their incredible sense of smell and an excellent memory.
Moreover, rats are used because they are fast and can screen an area of 200 square meters within 30 minutes, taking at least four days in manual operation. Amazingly, APOPO has not encountered any accidents in rats as these animals are too light to trigger a mine.
People in 59 countries from Angola to Cambodia have always feared the landmines, which caused several injuries in the past, APOPO says. The mines threaten the personal safety of the people, making the critical agricultural land hazardous to cultivate, cut-off trade, and prevent villages from expanding.
In Cambodia, it is estimated that there are four to six million landmines laid across the county from 1975 to 1998. These landmines have since caused a total of 64,000 casualties and counting.
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African Giant Pouched Rats as Landmine Detectors
Magawa is an Africa giant pouched rat most commonly found in Sub-Saharan Africa. These types of rats can grow up to three feet long from head to tail. African giant pouched rats have cheek pouches like hamsters, something that ordinary rats do not have. HeroRats of APOPO usually retire at the age of seven or eight, that means Magawa will be retiring soon.
African giant pouched rats were trained based on the principles of operant conditioning. Their training aims to make them reliably emit an indicator response, such as pausing and pawing, or biting, at the ground when they smell landmines or other explosive devices.
The rats are trained using clicker training in which rats scratch the ground above a land mine. This method teaches the rats in Tanzania to distinguish a scrap metal and explosives by giving them rewards whenever they correctly find landmines or target the right scent.
When rats successfully detect landmines, they, of course, call it a "hit," and failure to do so is called a "miss." It is crucial to obtain a zero or near-zero miss rate as it presents a significant safety issue that could result in civilian injury.
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