A tiny hero rat named Magawa, an African giant pouched rat trained by the demining charity APOPO, was honoured for detecting landmines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia, one of the countries most affected by explosive remnants of war. His light weight meant he would not trigger the devices, and his sharp sense of smell allowed him to detect TNT buried underground. Over a five-year career, he located 71 landmines and 38 unexploded ordnance, helping clear more than 225,000 square meters of land

In Africa, giant rats are being used to sniff out explosives and clear whole areas of land mines. These 'Hero Rats' have never been injured in the field and have helped clear 100,000 mines over 25 million square miles for 1 million people. | The Telegraph

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat, received a medal for his life-saving work detecting undetonated landmines http://cnn.it/2FZzPbF | CNN International

Ah yes, dopamine release… These six African giant pouched rat pups were brought to #APOPO by a kind rescuer. Estimated at about 4 weeks old we’re grateful for this opportunity to provide a safe haven and plenty of loving care. #grateful #ratpile #futureheroes #cutenessoverload | APOPO

This week on explore.org, we witnessed an African giant pouched rat for the first time on the Mpala Research Centre cameras. We watched two Service Dog Project puppies snuggle on the puppy cam, and had some great sea lion moments. | explore.org

Our #rats are commonly referred to as African giant pouched rats, but we like to call them #HeroRATs! They have a long lifespan, averaging 8 years in captivity. Most other rat species have a life expectancy of just 2-3 years. This means that our rats have a long working career even after the 1 year of training needed for them to perform the job. Like most rodents, our rats have a highly developed sense of smell. They are native to sub-Saharan Africa meaning they are well adapted to the climates