How to train a rat to find your mines -Video

The training of mine detection rats is one of APOPO's daily core activities. The procedure consists of several consecutive training phases, starting from early socialization at the age of four weeks, to final internal accreditation on real mines on APOPO's test and training fields. At each training stage the rats have to pass a "blind" test before continuing to the next level. When the rats have learned how to discriminate the TNT scent, they are trained on a soil-covered surface to search for small containers containing TNT among other targets. From there they will move on to detect surface-laid mines and will gradually search for deeper buried mines, covering larger areas until they are ready for an accreditation test on 400 square meters of mined area. Only when they successfully pass this test will they be licensed for export to the operational areas.