Why Cambodia Built a Giant Rat Statue Wearing a Medal of Honor

We erect statues to honor the memory of those who represented the best of us, who lived bravely and exemplified qualities we should all aspire to. Sometimes that person is a philanthropist or a war hero. Sometimes that person is an explosive mine-detecting rat in Cambodia named Magawa.

Cambodian officials officially revealed a seven-foot-tall statue honoring Magawa, a rat trained by APOPO, a nonprofit that trains animals to detect mines left behind as the dangerous detritus of war. If you think that sounds absurd, wait until you see some of the numbers Magawa put up. This little rat stuffed the stat sheet.

Over Magawa’s five-year career, he helped locate more than 100 landmines and cleared roughly 1.5 million square feet of previously explosive land. That’s roughly equal to the size of 26 football fields that people can now walk across without worry of being blown to bits.

Cambodia Just Gave a Giant Statue to a Rat With a Better Military Record Than Most Humans

Cambodia was a nation gripped by war for several years, including one with the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which left millions of explosives buried across the country. They don’t eventually deactivate. They remain active threats buried beneath the sands, unannounced to innocent passersby, years or decades after the conflicts they were meant to fight.

Magawa’s job was to detect explosive chemicals like TNT across tennis court-sized areas within about 20 minutes, work that would take a human days if you could even find anyone willing to do it at all. When he found something, he’d give the ground a little scratch. There was nothing theatrical about it. He didn’t wave a little flag or anything. With a simple motion reminiscent of the dog trying to find its favorite toy, Magawa let his handlers know there was an active explosive device buried underground.

If you’re wondering how he didn’t explode, it’s because Magawa is an African giant pouched rat, a species that, despite the word “giant” in its name, is actually rather light, or at least light enough not to trigger a mine. They also have a sharp sense of smell, sensitive enough to detect chemical compounds buried beneath the surface. Add in the promise of a banana slice for a job well done, and you’ve got yourself a rat that can quickly and efficiently find long-abandoned active landmines.

In 2020, Magawa became the first rat to receive the PDSA Gold Medal, essentially recognizing him as a decorated veteran in a war that technically already ended. He retired in 2021 and died a year later. And now, in 2026, he’s being forever honored for his diligent work saving lives he didn’t even know he was saving, because to him, it wasn’t about saving lives; it was all about those sweet, delicious bananas.

Not everyone who does good things is altruistic, but hey, they still did good things.

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