Landmines remain an ever present danger on battlefields. That’s for both soldiers in an active conflict and civilians once a war is over. Millions of anti-personnel landmines are buried around the world, and while groups work to remove them safely, in recent years they’ve turned to a novel tool to help: Rats. And one rat based out of Cambodia has now detected more landmines than any other rat in history.
Meet Ronin. Ronin has detected 109 landmines and 15 items of unexploded ordnance since 2021. That’s according to both APOPO, the charity that trained the African giant pouched rat, and the Guinness Book of World Records, which declared Ronin the new record holder. He’s currently working in Preah Vihear Province in Cambodia, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
The Guinness Book of World Records announced Ronin’s achievement on April 4, which happens to be both International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action and World Rat Day — yes that is a thing. Ronin, who works with a handler in the field, set the record for work done between August 2021-February 2025. He’s one of dozens of specially trained rodents active in locating landmines for demining efforts.
That work, the Guinness Book of World Records said in a statement, “is making a tangible difference to people who have been blighted for decades by the fear that one misstep while going about their day-to-day lives could be their last.”
Rats such as Ronin are trained to sniff out chemicals in the explosives. Their hard work also lets them cover distances at a quicker rate than a human with a metal detector, according to researchers. That sense of smell also means they focus on chemical compounds, and don’t get potentially misled by random bits of metal. They’re also trained on a grid system, and when in the field, their small size allows them to find and get to the landmines without setting them off. Ronin and other rats work only 30 minutes each day.
Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined locations in the world, with estimates of 4 million to 6 million landmines still buried in the earth from conflicts in the country between the 1960s-1990s. Despite years of effort, and millions already deactivated and removed, they remain a persistence danger, causing injury and death.
Ronin’s record includes 38 more mines than the previous record holder, Magawa. In a five-year career, Magawa detected 71 landmines and 38 other unexploded ordnance in Cambodia. In 2020, he was awarded a gold medal from a veterinary charity for his efforts. Magawa died in 2022 at the old age of eight.
Despite several years of international diplomacy aimed at stopping the spread of landmines, such as the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, and removing them, mines still litter dozens of countries. Many of those are not experiencing active conflicts, but people are still at risk from the mines.
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