At 12:51pm on February 22, 2011, the world crumbled before the residents of Christchurch, New Zealand. A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the city, killing 185 people and injuring thousands more. This earthquake was an aftershock of the more severe but far less deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the region six months earlier on September 4, 2010. An is a typically mini (in this case, not so mini) earthquake that occurs in response to added pressure being placed on nearby rocks as a result of the sudden fracturing of the ground during the initial earthquake. Oftentimes, though not as severe, these aftershocks disrupt rescue and rebuilding efforts.
What set the February 2011 earthquake apart from the September 2010 earthquake was the sheer number of buildings and structures that collapsed. Most of the people who died in the 2011 quake were in these collapsed buildings. However, not everyone stuck in a collapsed structures died. This is largely in part to the deployed in the city. Outperforming humans in their ability to traverse deeper into the rubble, and their far superior sense of smell, these dogs located a number of individuals, saving their lives. In fact, , a springer-spaniel known for his locating efforts in response to this quake was deployed in response to the Nepali earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 four years later.
As it turns out, it is not only dogs who can be deployed for this type of work. In fact, in March 2024, I had the pleasure to visit the headquarters of a company that trains rats to do just this, and even trains rats to detect landmines. Located in Morogoro, Tanzania, is a Belgian NGO that uses animals and other living organisms to foster solutions to issues such as landmine detection and search and rescue efforts. During this visit, my peers and I witnessed firsthand the various stages of training that the rats underwent for landmine detection.
From Ziggy to HeroRAT
APOPO鈥檚 rats, a.k.a. called HeroRATs, begin their training at the ripe age of five weeks old. The first step of their training is socialization. During this process, the rats are brought around the training facility and are introduced to various spaces, sounds, and smells as well as the various handlers who will train them. After the HeroRATs pass their socialization tests, they continue onto basic clicker training. In this 10-week phase, they learn to associate the sound of a clicker with a reward. This is the basis of the landmine training where they are tasked with sniffing out a target scent.
Once the HeroRATs have demonstrated an understanding that the clicker equals a tasty treat (a scary looking banana mush), they are trained to differentiate between everyday smells and their target smells 鈥� in this case, the smell of TNT. In the initial stages of this phase, the scents given to the rats are very strong. As training continues, the scents get weaker, and dummy scents are even incorporated into the training area that also simultaneously grows.
Why Rats?
Indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa, the Southern Giant Pouched rat is used for several reasons. Due to their highly developed sense of smell, wide availability, weight (for landmines), and their 6鈥�8-year life span, these rats have proven to be the most reliable heroes.
Using HeroRATs to detect landmines in the field is a far better alternative to metal detectors. When searching for landmines, metal detectors often detect harmless scrap metal which impacts the efficiency of the technology. Because the rats are trained to exclusively sniff out the landmines, they significantly speed up the scanning process. APOPO estimates that the rats double the operational efficiency of this process. Additionally, in places with dense contamination and limited resources, the usage of the rats is even more necessary. APOPO鈥檚 HeroRATs can search an area the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes. To search that same area using a metal detector would take 4 days.
Beyond Landmines
Due to the success of APOPO鈥檚 HeroRATs, the organization has extended its reach into other forms of action. Originally started to offset APOPO鈥檚 own carbon emissions, the HeroTREEs project demonstrated immense potential to regenerate agroecosystems. Setting up their teaching hubs at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, APOPO brings in local community members and teaches them sustainable farming and cultivation methods that not only allow the ecosystems to flourish, but also to improve food security in neighboring areas.
When it comes to rats, let鈥檚 just say that it is hard for them to shake the reputation that precedes them. For me, I happen to have a personal vendetta against the furry creatures, having grown up in New York City. Seeing rats scurrying through train tracks and on busy sidewalks never fails to send a shiver down my spine. In fact, numerous regions around the world have worked tirelessly to be declared 鈥渞at-free.鈥� The largest human-inhabited place on Earth that is is in the Canadian province of Alberta. Now, that is the beauty of using dogs for search and rescue efforts! They are a man鈥檚 best friend after all!
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Eva Kellner is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Arts and Science, with a major in Environment. Her research interests include urban green spaces, urban agriculture, and outdoor community spaces - all as promoters of climate resilience among city-dwellers.
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