SAVINGS LIVES

Landmine-Sniffing Rat Sets Guinness World Record

African pouched rat Ronin surpassed the previous record set by the “legendary” rat Magawa.

A bomb-detecting rat has smashed a world record by sniffing out more than 100 landmines in Cambodia. Since his deployment in 2021, Ronin, a giant African pouched rat, has sniffed out 109 landmines and 15 other unexploded war remnants, according to the nonprofit APOPO. “His exceptional accomplishments have earned him the Guinness World Records title most landmines detected by a rat‚” the nonprofit announced Friday, which coincides with World Rat Day. Ronin surpassed the previous record set by “legendary” rat Magawa, who tracked down 71 landmines and 38 unexploded objects in five years of service. APOPO trains rats to detect chemicals in the mines and other weapons left behind from Cambodia’s decades-long civil war, which ended in 1998. The organization’s 104 active rodents play a crucial life-saving role in a country where nearly 20,000 people have been killed by leftover war remnants since 1979. At five-years-old, Ronin may have a couple more years of his meaningful detection work ahead of him, the charity said.