The highly developed sense of smell and light weight of our African giant pouched rats, nicknamed ‘HeroRATs’, make them ideal detectors of landmines and tuberculosis.
HeroRATs detecting landmines
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HeroRATs detecting tuberculosis
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HeroRATs currently in-training
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HeroRATs sniff out the chemical compounds of TNT (explosive) found in landmines and other explosive remnants of war. They ignore scrap metal making them much faster at detecting landmines than metal detectors.
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The APOPO tuberculosis detection rats re-check TB negative samples collected from local clinics by smelling above them and indicating on any they think are actually TB positive. This has resulted in a 40% increase in case detection.
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Marcous is a bundle of energy and an elite mine detection rat based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. A real character with a steely determination, Marcous sniffs out explosives ninety six times faster than conventional solutions.
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Chewa is a male Tuberculosis Detection Rat based in Dar Es Salaam, a mega-city in Tanzania. Chewa can search for TB in sputum samples 96 times faster than a lab technician. Adopt Chewa and help us to stop TB.
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Ikemba is a female Mine Detection Rat working in rural Angola which suffered heavily from a brutal civil war. Ikemba can sniff out landmines much faster than using a metal detector. Adopt Ikemba and help save lives.
Six year old Claudi was very sick. His local clinic didn't know why. Read how APOPO identified his TB.
Claudi's storyTry looking for answers on our FAQ page, or send us an email from the contacts page. If you are a journalist you can contact the press team on the press page.
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