Rodents of unusual size

I remember when I was little, I was always terrified of the ROUS's (Rodents of unusual size) that lurked in the Fire Swamp in The Princess Bride. However, I was comforted to know that rats are, in fact, tiny. Well, it appears that fact has changed.

According to this article in the Boston Globe, raccoon-sized rats are being used in Mozambique to determine the location of landmines and in Tanzania to detect the presence of Tuberculosis in saliva samples in slum neighborhoods. The rats are leashed, are less expensive than bomb- or disease-sniffing dogs, and quicker than humans.

"People are so surprised to see this project," Alberto Jorge Chambe, a Mozambican rat handler for Apopo, the nonprofit organization that trains and deploys the rats, said in the article. "Rats are usually considered pests or enemies of humanity. But rats are helping my country escape the shadow of death."