Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe GONDOLA, Mozambique, May 18 (UPI) -- Officials in Mozambique are considering using Gambian giant pouched rats to detect hidden land mines, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Trained by Apopo, a mine-removal company from Antwerp, Belgium, the 3-pound rats have an unusually keen sense of smell as well as an ability to be trained, said Frank Weetjens of Apopo. Advertisement "What Pavlov did with his dogs is exactly what we're doing here -- very basic conditioning," said Weetjens. "TNT means food. TNT means clicking sound, means food. That's how we communicate with them." The rats have been training with defused land mines, but if the Mozambican authorities approve, Apopo's rats will move at year's end to live minefields -- the world's first certified, professional mine-detecting rats. The rats, who work for peanuts and bananas, are raised in Tanzania and trained in Mozambique with funding from Belgium.
