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Dogs have traditionally been used to detect landmines, but now rats and bees are being trained for this task. APOPO, a Belgian company, has trained African giant pouch rats to locate buried bombs, while researchers at the University of Montana are using honeybees to screen large areas for unexploded bombs. These low-cost methods are aimed at detecting underground explosives safely. In Mozambique, 20 rats were recently used to search for explosives, and they were successful in combing three minefields along the Limpopo Railway. A trained rat costs about $10,000 less than a mine-sniffing dog, and they are relatively small, making them easy to maintain and transport. Rats begin training at the age of five weeks, and after six to ten months, they learn the desired task. They are trained to walk on a leash attached to a bar that moves forward into a suspected field. When the animals smell explosive material, they scratch or bite at the location, indicating the presence of a landmine. A rat and handler can search 150 square meters in about half an hour.
