The terrible thing about war is that it not only causes huge casualties at the time, but even in peaceful times, it still threatens human life in another way.
The most representative of these are the landmines and bombs left over from the war. If humans accidentally touch the bomb, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, in peacetime, demining and is still a very dangerous, time-consuming and labor-intensive task.
The demining work that has changed after hearing about it
During the war years, landmines were laid irregularly and intricately distributed. Finding them was a very time-consuming, labor-intensive and money-consuming task. If you are not careful, you may accidentally hit a mine and cause an explosion.
In fact, there are many countries and regions in the world that are threatened by landmines left over from the war. Countries with a strong economic foundation can invest a lot of manpower and material resources in demining, but for some economically backward countries, they have to think of other methods.
The most commonly used demining tools in the world are metal detector . During the working process, the current in the detector will generate a magnetic field. When the magnetic field encounters metal, it will change. At this time, the detector will sound an alarm.
However, the effectiveness of this instrument is quite limited, because many minefields were once battlefields, and there were many metal residues such as bullets and bomb explosives during the war, which caused interference to metal detectors.
And with the continuous development of war, During World War II, landmines camouflaged with plastic casings have appeared. Such landmines cannot be found by metal detectors, resulting in a decrease in demining efficiency and causing huge safety hazards to demining personnel.
Until now, there are still about 1.2 million landmines under people's feet in Africa. It will take them 4,000 years to clear mines using traditional methods.
No people in any country can afford to wait for such a long time span. Why are there so many
mines?
The country with the most mines in the world is undoubtedly Afghanistan. The specific reasons will not be repeated. But just in terms of the difficulty of demining work, Africa and Southeast Asia are famous for helping.
Due to the vast territory and insufficient manpower, the method of laying large areas can effectively prevent enemy attacks. After the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, conflicts broke out between countries or because of national civil wars, resulting in many minefields in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The main reason why demining in Africa and Southeast Asia is difficult is not that there are many landmines, but that they do not know where the landmines are buried. Coupled with lagging economic development and underdeveloped science and technology, this has greatly increased the difficulty of demining.
Sensitive animals
Historically, before the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1948, fleeing animals could be seen everywhere on the streets of the Soviet Union. People who don't know the truth are still looking for the reason, and this devastating disaster has come.
Since ancient times, animals have been far more sensitive to natural disasters than humans. In ancient times, people discovered that before major natural disasters occurred, there would often be phenomena like "dogs barking, chickens hopping, rats taking to the streets, and cattle and sheep not entering the pens." Through modern knowledge, we understand that this is because animals’ senses are much more sensitive than humans and can sense changes in advance. These abnormal behaviors of animals are actually their cry for help behavior.
Dog is a good friend of human beings. It has a sensitive sense of smell and hearing. Some types of dogs have very high IQs and can understand human instructions. After certain training, they can fight side by side with humans and work as search and rescue dogs, guide dogs , police dogs, etc., and often complete tasks well.
On this basis, humans began to train mine clearance dogs, using the dogs' keen sense of smell to detect gunpowder buried deep in the land, thereby achieving the purpose of mine clearance.
Initially, Africans also trained mine clearance dogs to clear mines. However, in actual work, they found that the cost of mine clearance dogs was very high, which made it difficult for the African people who were not already wealthy.
Africa has a low geographical latitude, and its main climates are tropical desert climate, savanna climate , and tropical rain forest climate. This means that Africa has high temperatures all year round, especially in summer, which is unbearably hot. Dogs suitable for mine clearance are not tolerant of high temperatures and are prone to heat stroke in summer. Coupled with the local epidemic of dysentery, many dogs have fallen ill, and treatment costs are high.
Unlike other animals, dogs have a serious emotional bond with humans. Once the trainer is changed midway, the dog's resistance will be very serious, and it may even directly resist completing the instructions. For example, the common border collie in our lives. This kind of dog has a high IQ, is energetic, and can complete many challenges under human instructions. However, this kind of dog has a very strong emotional dependence on its owner. Once it identifies a certain owner, it will not change its owner easily.
These objective disadvantages are also the reason why people in Africa have to give up minesweeper dogs.
Elf Mouse Brother
Without the help of minesweeper dogs, Africans soon discovered another good helper-rats.
The rat, which is listed as one of the four pests by us, and is "beated by everyone during festivals", actually one day contributes to human development.
Rats have very high IQs. According to research, rats have the intelligence of human children at the age of three. They can understand human speech and have a great sense of smell.
Before the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, some people discovered that there were many rats on the street "fleeing their families", which also proved the ability of rats to predict harm.
"Dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix, and the children born by mice can dig holes."
Hole-digging is a skill that mice are born with. Their small size and quick movements are their advantages.
In order to help more people get rid of the haze caused by landmines as soon as possible, a world-wide non-profit organization called "APOPO", composed of people from Belgium and Tanzania, began to provide help to people in Africa and Southeast Asia. Their main job is to train demining rats .
Not all dogs are suitable to be demining dogs, and certainly not all mice are suitable to be demining rats.
This organization found a rat named " Gambia Kangaroo ", which is the largest known rat species in the world. An adult Gambian kangaroo can reach 75 centimeters in length and weigh no more than 8 pounds, just like a kitten.
This kind of mouse itself lives in the south of the Sahara Desert . It is very adaptable to the hot and dry climate of Africa. It is rarely infected with diseases. Its lifespan in the wild is up to ten years, and it can live up to eight years in captivity. It is a long-lived mouse among mice.
The most critical reason why the agency staff chose the Gambian kangaroo is that it is different from the rats we often see in our lives. The Gambian kangaroo has a docile personality, is good at obeying human orders, has a high IQ, and rarely suffers from mood swings. Therefore, local people often keep the Gambian kangaroo as a pet. Gambian kangaroos are not as emotionally dependent on their trainers as dogs are. They are highly adaptable to the environment, and changing trainers will not affect training and work progress.
After being trained into demining rats, this kind of rats can operate more conveniently and quickly than demining dogs, greatly reducing the cost of demining, and have been widely recognized by people in most parts of Africa and Southeast Asia.
From about one month after birth, the selected demining rats began to gradually come into contact with the training staff and become familiar with the training venue and environment. Once everything adapts, the 10-week-old demining rats will start a nine-month training. The main method of training
is actually to use conditioned reflex to make the demining rats react to the smell of gunpowder. Trainers will put many things in the venue, some mixed with a small amount of explosive ingredients (only smell, but will not cause any harm), and some are ordinary items.
Every time a demining rat touches an object with a small amount of explosives, it will hear a "click" and will receive a special reward from the trainer, which is usually watermelon, banana and other their favorite foods.
The Gambian kangaroo is a rat that is very easy to satisfy, especially food satisfaction will make this little guy very motivated.
After the demining rats can accurately identify the smell of explosives, they will enter the "internship period", that is, they will be taken outdoors by the trainer for practical training. After passing rigorous examinations, the demining rats with excellent results will be "regularized" and officially become a "established" demining rat.
In order to make the demining rat live a relaxed and happy life every day and make it love this job even more, in addition to better food conditions than ordinary rats, there will also be dedicated exercise and game time and veterinary care services.
Celebrity Mouse
The demining mouse at work is wearing "work clothes" and is followed by a demining personnel. Once the demining rats smell the smell of explosives in the soil, they will dig the soil continuously due to conditioned reflex, trying to dig out the explosives buried deep underground.
Because of their innate sense of smell, demining rats can accurately smell whether buried underground is metal or explosives, greatly reducing their workload.
The demining rat has particularly strong mobility, and coupled with its innate ability to dig burrows, the demining time is also greatly reduced. If a minefield the size of a tennis court is demined using traditional demining methods, it usually takes about four days, but Gambian kangaroos can complete the task in just half an hour.
Demining rats have many advantages over demining dogs. In addition to being less prone to illness, highly adaptable, and low in cost, the biggest advantage is that demining rats are particularly light in weight.
When a mine-clearing rat discovers a mine, deminers can safely let the rat continue its work because it is not heavy enough to trigger the mine. When a demining rat squeaks, it means it's done its job. At this time, people will give a piece of banana as a reward for the little guy.
The demining mouse, which is very easily satisfied, became more energetic after eating a banana and continued to work immediately.
Among these many demining rats, there is also a well-known little hero-Magawa.
Magawa came into people’s view because it was awarded the “Animal Courage Award” by PDSA, a British charity, in September 2020.
In fact, this award has existed for 77 years. The original intention was to reward those who have made special contributions to mankind. animal. However, because among many animals, humans are more willing to choose dogs as work "partners", so the previous winners of this honor have been dogs.
Magawa was the first animal other than a dog to receive the award, and thus attracted widespread attention.
Magawa has been an official demining rat since 2015. He worked diligently for five years and did not officially retire until June 2020.
From a human perspective, 5 years is not a long time to work. But for Gambian kangaroos, it's more than half of rat life. Magawa has eliminated the potential threat of landmines from a total of 225,000 square kilometers of land, and has accurately found 100 landmines and a large number of flammable and explosive materials.
At the beginning of this year, Magawa, who has reached his twilight years, became more and more tired. In order to thank it for its work for mankind, after retirement, it can enjoy its favorite food every day to "live its old age". On a sunny and warm afternoon, Magawa gently closed its eyes and never opened them again, ending its hard-working but extremely glorious life. The deeds of
Magawa surprised many netizens, and also caused people to pay widespread attention to the group of demining rats.
Some netizens call them "rat death squads". They know that the danger ahead may cost their lives, but they still charge forward and work hard without complaint.
From the street rat that everyone yelled at to beat, to the "Bethune" of the animal world, the demining rat has changed people's traditional understanding of rats. "The story of the demining rat tells us that it deserves to be ranked first among the twelve zodiac signs."
These little guys use their little bodies to hold up a safe sky for people. If it weren't for their hard work, people in these areas would not know how much sacrifice they would have to make.
Knowledge expansion
In addition to metal detectors , the demining methods currently used in our country include demining vehicles. The front-end demining chain and demining plow can detonate landmines, or directly dig out landmines.
In uninhabited areas, you can also use the rockets and bombs you carry with you to carry out indiscriminate bombing in minefields to achieve the purpose of detonating landmines.
With the development of modern technology, radar, infrared , and drones can also be used to carry out mine clearance, but the price is very expensive, so the actual utilization rate is not high.
In addition to demining dogs and demining rats, there is another animal that can also participate in demining work, and that is the bee, but it is not as famous as the first two.
Since demining rats can perform tasks well in Southeast Asia and Africa, why is manual demining still carried out in my country's border areas?
During the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, the ambitious Le Duan Group planted countless landmines on the Sino-Vietnamese border. To this day, people are still at risk of detonating landmines at any time.
There is still a "landmine village" in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. Most of the villagers here are disabled, and most of them accidentally touched landmines, which caused explosions.
The distribution of these landmines is irregular, and most of them are located in deep mountains and dense forests, adding more dangers to demining personnel. So netizens were very curious after learning about the work of demining rats. Since Gambian kangaroos have such outstanding performance in demining work, why doesn't China follow suit?
First of all, demining rats can indeed be trained to detect landmines, but they are still not the mainstream method of demining in the world. The Gambian kangaroo's keen sense of smell makes it stand out among rats. It is believed that in the near future, this kitten-sized "African giant rat" may become a member of the anti-smuggling and anti-narcotics team.
However, in actual work, the proportion of demining tasks completed by demining rats is not large. However, their outstanding contributions to human demining are indelible.
There are two main reasons why demining rats account for a small proportion of demining tasks. One is that although the cost of demining rats is much lower than that of demining dogs, it is not as easy as imagined. Therefore, institutions that train demining rats also need to consider actual costs to avoid being unable to make ends meet. Another reason is that the reproductive capacity of this African giant rat is too strong. If it is rashly introduced to my country for demining work, it will inevitably encounter some unexpected situations, thus affecting the ecology of our country. environment.
From the perspective of natural ecology, there is still a long way to go before the demining rat can be “educated” in my country.
Secondly, although the demining rat has a dexterous body and a keen sense of smell, it can accurately distinguish flammable and explosive materials such as metals and landmines. It is much more efficient and accurate than ordinary metal detectors in demining, but the little guy’s detection ability is still are limited, especially in large-scale regional testing.
The geographical and climatic characteristics of my country's China-Vietnam border are very different from those of Africa. There are dense mountains and old forests, and the surface is covered by thick vegetation.
The biggest problem encountered by demining rats in their work is that they cannot work in areas covered by thick vegetation. The minefields in Yunnan and Guangxi in my country happen to have this kind of topography. The "Little Elf Mouse" who has repeatedly made extraordinary achievements in Africa and Southeast Asia has no chance to show off his talents after coming to our country.
The last and most important reason is that no matter which demining method is used, it is not as accurate as manual demining.
Our country's people's soldiers on the front line shoulder the task of demining, and they also shoulder the important task of guarding the safety of the people. If they cannot ensure that all minefields have been cleared, then the mission cannot be truly completed.
Therefore, to this day, our country's People's Liberation Army soldiers guarding the border still carry out demining work mainly manually with the assistance of tools. When they find a mine, they gently sweep away the dirt next to it. If you are not careful at this time, you may detonate a landmine and endanger your life. Therefore, demining soldiers go into battle with bare hands and complete their tasks at the cost of their own lives.
It is worth mentioning that the dangers encountered by these demining warriors are not only mine explosions, but also various poisonous insects that appear at any time. When bitten by one of them, the venom will swim between the blood and the skin, causing burning and pain. It will also quickly paralyze the heart, causing shortness of breath and confusion. If not rescued in time, your life will be in danger.
Whether they are front-line demining warriors or demining rats and dogs charging into battle, these selfless and fearless devotees are guarding the safety of the people with their blood and youth.
Without the Great Wall that they guard with their flesh and blood, how could we have happiness and health?
Reference source:
[1] Xiaoxiang Morning News "This little mouse who made great contributions to the field of demining passed away. He discovered more than 100 landmines and saved countless lives" 20220112
[2] Zhengguan News "Sniffed out more than 100 mines in 5 years A landmine, how did a mouse become the "hero" of Cambodia ? 》20220114
