Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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A Useful Rat. Humans use fellow mammals to accomplish jobs only they can do. Dogs are famous for many tasks--even pigs (Sus scrofa) 'Souse' or 'suss' out truffles. In Cambodia they use the African Giant Pouched rat to root out landmines. They are trained in Tanzania by the Belgian NGO, APOPO, To 'ferret' out these buried devices from the scent of TNT. The lightweight rats are too light to trigger-pressre-activated landmines. Working in an area the size of a tennis court, it takes only 20-30 minutes, While a human with a metal detector would require four days! Metal detectors are triggered by mines as well as scrap metal, Thus rats speed up the process by wasting less time 'detecting' false alarms. The rats are trained for 9-12 months, using clicker training and food rewards. In the field a rope grid is used and the rat scratches the ground When it detects a mine. Magawa, the most famous HeroRat, found over 100 landmines. In April 2026 a seven-foot-high stone statue was unveiled in his honor. Cambodia is scheduled to be mine-free by 2030. Frank Maurer 15 April 2026 1520 Hours.