Giant Rats Clear Minefields in War-Torn Africa

Proving that heroes come in all shapes and sizes, the once war-torn country of Mozambique has trained a herd of rats to rid the area of old land mines. Wait, rats?

Enter the African Giant-Pouched Rat. The enormous rodents are trained to sniff out explosives by a Belgian non-governmental organization called APOPO. Officially called Mine Detection Rats (MDRs), they have been aptly named "HeroRats" by many.

The rodent team has cleared more than 64 million square feet since 2006, finding over 2,400 land mines, 13,000 small arms and ammunition stashes, and almost 1,000 bombs. APOPO now claims that the country is free of war ordnance for the first time in decades - all due to the HeroRats.

The "rat pack" took some getting used to for the humans of the demining units. Alberto Augusto, the national director, joked, "In Mozambique we eat rats, so it was very strange to see them working and demining. We were thinking to grill them."

Fortunately none of the rats were eaten by locals. Now that the country is land mine free, the furry little morsals have moved on to neighboring Tanzania to continue their critical work of saving lives.

Africans have found an ingenious use for giant rats. Meanwhile, Americans just keep electing them to Congress.