From Rachel A. Becker / National Geographic: APOPO, an international nonprofit, has trained Gambian pouched rats to sniff out landmines in countries across the world. These rats have terrible vision, but an amazing sense of smell and have cleared over 13,000 mines since 1997. Training the rats takes about nine months, and includes socializing, teaching them how to walk on a rope in the field, and of course, how to sniff out minuscule amounts of TNT.
