Dolphins trained to thwart enemy divers and mines?

Dolphins are one of the smarter water-based mammals, and they can be taught to perform tricks and feats in return for food – something that many of us have already seen and experienced for ourselves over at a water park or circus. Well, dolphins are capable of doing much, much more than just keep a crowd happy – how about the ability to “sniff” out mines in the water, or perhaps even prevent enemy divers’ efforts in making their way to the enemy’s country via unconventional means?

Trust the U.S. Navy to train dolphins that are more than capable of locating submerged mines in addition to sniffing out enemy divers, where the latter can be captured by Navy personnel in a jiffy after that.

Just how operational is this mammalian project? Well, the Navy did demonstrate the dolphins’ abilities at the recent Operation Trident Fury, which is a joint U.S. – Canadian operation off the Canadian coast near Vancouver. Bottle-nosed dolphins were used in this scenario, where they are proud to have sonar capabilities which are “unmatched by anything man made.”

Edwin Kee
Categories: Military
Tags: military, navy