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Posts Tagged ‘land mine’

Hero Rat Gets a Statue

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 6, 2026| 7 Comments »

Photo: Antony Holvoet/Apopo.
The statue of Magawa, the land-mine-sniffing rat, was unveiled on the eve of International Day for Mine Awareness. Land mines are illegal under international law because they kill so many innocents, but countries still use them. Talented rats will continue to be needed.

Probably most of you have a reason to hate rats, but it’s important to note that rats can not only be useful in science but heroic in helping clear land mines. Today’s article is about a rat that prevented so much death and dismemberment that he’s been honored with his own statue.

Sydney Page writes at the Washington Post, “Although Magawa weighed less than three pounds, his impact was monumental. The African giant pouched rat sniffed out more than 100 land mines during his five-year career, saving countless lives.

“To honor his bravery, a seven-foot statue of Magawa was unveiled [in Cambodia], where he spent his time nose-down on high-stakes missions. Magawa died in 2022, but his legacy lives on.

“ ‘Magawa was one of the best rats we’ve ever had,’ said Michael Raine, a program manager in Cambodia for Apopo — a Belgium-based nonprofit that trains animals to detect land mines. ‘Magawa was calm and focused … he was gentle and friendly with his handlers. He just had the perfect temperament.’

“Born in 2013 at Apopo’s headquarters in Tanzania, Magawa was trained as a ‘HeroRAT,’ learning to harness his strong sense of smell to detect explosives. In 2016, he was relocated to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to begin his career, quickly rising to the top among Apopo’s rats. He even has his own Wikipedia page.

“Raine said Magawa could search a field the size of a tennis court within about 20 minutes — a task that would take a human several days. …

“Apopo trains rats using positive reinforcement, teaching them to identify chemical compounds in explosives, such as trinitrotoluene. When a rat detects a land mine, it scratches the surface, alerting its handler. The rat is then rewarded with a treat, typically a peanut or a slice of banana. …

“ ‘They’re so light they wouldn’t trigger a land mine,’ Raine said. Plus, ‘they have an extremely sensitive sense of smell and they are quite intelligent.’

“Cambodia has one of the world’s highest concentrations of land mines, largely stemming from the Khmer Rouge era in 1979 and the Vietnamese occupation between 1979 and 1989.

“In the past 47 years, land mines in Cambodia have caused about 18,800 deaths and 45,000 injuries. Apopo started training mine-detection rats in 2015, which helped speed up the efforts to locate mines, though an estimated 6 million land mines remain in Cambodia, according to Apopo. … Raine said, ‘Cambodia’s target is to be land mine free by 2030.’

“Magawa’s individual impact is remarkable, Raine said. He cleared more than 1.52 million square feet — roughly 26 football fields — and detected dozens of land mines. In 2020, Magawa became the first rat to receive the PDSA Gold Medal, which rewards animal bravery and devotion to duty. …

“After retiring in 2021, Magawa spent several weeks mentoring younger rats, helping them refine their detection skills by his example. …

“The giant statue of Magawa, hand-carved from stone by local artists, was commissioned by Apopo and unveiled on the eve of International Day for Mine Awareness. In attendance were government officials, including the head of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority. Land-mine victims were also present, as well as children from a local school.

“ ‘What Magawa delivered was excellent, and it was a good way to remember him and also remind people in a nice way that there’s still a mine problem here in Cambodia,’ Raine said.”

More at the Post, here.

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Using E Coli Against Land Mines

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on June 23, 2021| 4 Comments »

Photo: Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In Israel, research with genetically modified bacteria is creating a new way to detect hidden land mines.

Giving credit where it’s due, I first learned at PRI’s The World that e coli is being used to detect forgotten land mines. You can listen to the radio broadcast here.

Then I went online and found a variety of articles on the research. This one is from the New York Times. Elizabeth Landau writes, “Land mines left over from bygone conflicts — or those still being fought — pose silent threats to millions of people around the world. With the help of bacteria that glow in their presence, these hidden hazards may one day be found and safely removed or destroyed.

“Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have spent a decade developing living land mine sensors using E. coli bacteria. In recent studies, they describe their latest progress. By using genetic engineering, they can turn each bacterium into ‘a miniature firefly’ in the presence of a chemical associated with the explosives, said Shimshon Belkin, the Hebrew University microbiologist leading the research.

“In 2019, more than 5,500 people were killed or injured by land mines and explosive remnants of war, and 80 percent of them were civilians, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Anti-personnel land mines, which can be only a few inches across and easily concealed, are especially dangerous. Estimates vary for the worldwide count of buried land mines, but they are as high as 110 million.

“Many strategies have been tried to locate land mines, such as using metal detectors and training detection animals, including an award-winning rat that helped locate 71 land mines before it retired. Each method balances benefits with risks and costs.

“The idea of rewiring bacteria to sense land mines originated with Robert Burlage, then at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Burlage worked on getting bacteria to light up in response to organic waste and mercury. Looking for a new application for this technique, he got the idea to try targeting land mine chemicals.

“Although Dr. Burlage conducted a few small field tests, he was unable to secure more funding and moved on. ‘My tale of woe,’ said Dr. Burlage, now a professor at Concordia University Wisconsin. …

“Bacteria are cheap and expendable and can be spread over a lot of ground. And they are relatively quick at reporting back — within hours, or up to a day, they either glow or they don’t.

“In studies published in the past year in Current Research in Biotechnology and Microbial Biotechnology, Dr. Belkin and his team describe tinkering with two key components of the E. coli genetic code: pieces of DNA called ‘promoters’ that act as on/off switches for genes, and ‘reporters’ that prompt light-emitting reactions. To produce this effect, researchers borrowed genes from marine bacteria that naturally emit light in the ocean.

“Scientists attuned the bacteria to a chemical called [DNT]. DNT vapor seeps into soil surrounding a land mine, and the bacteria can sniff it out. …

“One key challenge the group is working to overcome is safely locating the bioluminescent bacteria in a real minefield. When they detect land mines, their glow is so faint that light from the moon, stars or nearby cities could drown it out. …

“Aharon J. Agranat, a bioengineer at Hebrew University, and other researchers reported in April in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics that they had developed a device that shields the bacteria and detects their glow. This sensor system can then report its findings to a nearby computer, but it hasn’t been tested outside a laboratory setting. The researchers have also recently conducted field tests in Israel, collaborating with the Israeli army to ensure the safety of the experiments, as well as an Israeli defense company. The results of these tests have not been published, but Dr. Belkin called them ‘generally very successful.’ ” More here.

I know a little about the scourge of land mines from reading Laos-based mysteries by artist, educator, and activist Colin Cotterill. If you like fiction about foreign countries that not only introduces you to new geographies but also addresses the challenges to be found there, you will probably love Dr. Siri of The Coroner’s Lunch.

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