Rats!

[MsAmerica]

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Meet a 'Very Diligent' Rat Named Ronin Who Has Sniffed Out a Record-Breaking 109 Landmines in Cambodia
https://people.com/rat-named-ronin-sniffed-out-record-breaking-109-landmines-cambodia-11725461

Super-Sniffing Rat Sets a New World Record for Discovering Deadly Land Mines—and He’s Just Getting Started
Ronin, a 5-year-old African giant pouched rat, has found 109 land mines and 15 other unexploded ordnances in Cambodia
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/super-sniffing-rat-sets-a-new-world-record-for-discovering-deadly-land-mines-and-hes-just-getting-started-180986432/

Meet Ronin, The Guinness World Record-Breaking Rat Who's Saving Lives, One Mine At A Time
He's cute, he's wearing a tiny harness, and he's saving lives. He's a HeroRAT.
https://www.iflscience.com/meet-ronin-the-guinness-world-record-breaking-rat-whos-saving-lives-one-mine-at-a-time-78856

That is one smart and lifesaving little dude !
It's a shame that rats get such bad press , they are extremely intelligent.
I have heard of rats been trained to detect cancer .

I wonder if they could be trained in search and rescue too.?

When my children were young we had a pet rat and she was the most beautiful creature. She used to sit on my shoulder when I was doing the housework. They are very intelligent and extremely clean animals who get an unreasonable bad press.

I was recently listening to a radio program where a woman who's a rat specialist was talking about how rats are great, even as the equivalent of pets, that they are companionable and affectionate.

They’re underrated as pets, very social and extremely intelligent. Went into pets at home last week it is was almost spooky seeing their mannerisms

For some reason, your use of the word "mannerisms" had me giggling, as I was imagining something out of a Disney film.

Yes they are being trained for this. They wear a little back pack and can signal back to base with a button.

There are are Gambian Pouched Rats for mines, TB testing etc, they're not as easy to keep as Norwegians.

I have 4 fancy Norwegian rats. They are easily the nicest creatures I've ever owned.

The downsides are their lifespan - 2-3 years so you are endlessly heartbroken, and the vet bills.

I had two much-loved rats a long time ago. They were great! Clever, clean and sensitive creatures.
I am going on a trip to Vietnam soon and will be making a detour to see the Cambodian mine-detector rats, having become fascinated about them since I first read of them a couple of years ago.
thank you for sharing!

Oh Crumbs, that’s the hard part, their short life spans!

I really LOVE the mental image of a rat with a backpack.

I imagine a rat hiking up a hill, outfitted with a backpack, alpenstock in hand, maybe wearing a little hat with a feather in it.

Mine will happily wear little hats, but even two of us can’t get them into a harness… they just wriggle off, so I’m v impressed with whoever gets the backpacks on them!

And hiking rats is just too cute!