#herorats

[ptseti]

In Tanzania, rats are trained to detect landmines. The rodents’ acute sense of smell and lightweight frame allow them to sniff out chemicals and detect landmines without triggering an explosion.

The rats, also known as “HeroRATs,” can also detect tuberculosis more quickly than laboratory tests. The non-profit organisation APOPO currently has over 104 rodent recruits.

[🎥:60seconds]

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

HeroRATs

For a small contribution a month, you can virtually adopt a HeroRAT or HeroDOG and help us save lives. Our mission is to allow people all ov

Apopo has introduced three new HeroRATS available for 'adoption.'

Baraka and Ronin are both mine detection rats, while Tamasha is a TB detection rat. Baraka and Tamasha are both based in Tanzania and Ronin works in Cambodia.

These African Giant Pouched Rats can scent and detect landmines safely in an area the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes. It would take a human using a metal detector 4 days to cover the same area. The rats are small enough that they don't trigger the mines, keeping both the animals and their handlers safe. The TB detection rats can do the work of a human technician running microscopic examination of sputum samples over 4 days in 20 minutes.

Some people might remember Magawa, the HeroRAT who was presented with the PDSA Gold Medal, which is considered the highest honour of gallantry and bravery an animal can be presented with for acts of service.

You can 'adopt' one of the rats with a monthly donation towards their care and upkeep, or buy a gift ranging from a basket of bananas, a nesting box for breeding pairs, and covering the cost of a health check up. Look at how cute their 'Romantic Dinner For Two' for breeding pairs is:

[lunar-goodness]

I’m gonna get to meet heroRATS on Monday!!!!!!! I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crasybirdlady]

My hero rat Baraka just started his career in Angola. This month he helped clear 950 square meters of land and found 1 piece of ammunition.

I’m so very proud of him and every time I visit local schools to present non fiction books I brag about him to the children. Both to raise awareness about land mines and also in the hope that they will talk about it at home and perhaps some of the parents will want to adopt a hero rat too.

[excited-insomniac]

Amazing work being done by APOPO 🐀

[deguarts]

Here are the two organizations I'm currently supporting with some of my art! A portion of each sale will be donated to:

APOPO HeroRATs trains African giant pouched rats to sniff out land mines and tuberculosis!

The Pika Project monitors pika populations in the Colorado mountains. You can volunteer to help out, and the data gained goes towards helping conservation and preventing climate change.

I'm happy to support these two amazing groups as much as I can, and I'd love to support more rodent and lagomorph focused organizations.

[thegreenwolf]

And here's my HeroRAT for today's last-but-not-least Zooly Art Challenge 2022 prompt! I already loved rats, but they've jumped up a notch in my esteem after I got to read more about these big critters with the sharp noses. If this month has taught me anything, it's that I love drawing fur, and the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys spp.) here was a nice challenge in color layering and texturing. Also, I can't believe I actually made it through the whole month! I made a new drawing for each day, managed to post on time, and had a lot of fun while I was at it. It broke me out of a bad artist's block, and I'm looking forward to doing more illustration. Ink pen and Copic markers.

[jennifercrowart]

Magawa was an African giant pouched rat trained by APOPO to sniff out landmines for clearing in Cambodia! He even won the PDSA gold medal for his "life-saving devotion to duty" in 2020, and was the first rat to ever be given this medal! He recently passed away at the old age of 8, in retirement ;;

Thank you for all of your hard work, Magawa! It's always Full Cheek Friday over the rainbow bridge ;;