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Tue 25 Mar, 2003 04:49 pm
Quote:Oddly Enough - Reuters
U.S. Enlists Dolphins to Aid War Effort
Tue Mar 25,12:45 PM ET
UMM QASR, Iraq (Reuters) - Forget precision bombs, unmanned spy-planes and high-tech weaponry, the U.S. army is about to unveil its most unlikely mine detector -- all the way from San Diego, California, the Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphin.
At the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, secured by U.S and British forces after days of fighting, soldiers made last-minute preparations on Tuesday for the imminent arrival of a team of specially trained dolphins to help divers ensure the coastline is free of danger before humanitarian aid shipments can dock.
U.S. Navy Captain Mike Tillotson told reporters that three or four dolphins would work from Umm Qasr, using their natural sonar abilities to seek out mines or other explosive devices which Iraqi forces may have planted on the seabed.
"They were flown over on a military animal transporter in fleece-lined slings," Tillotson said. "We keep them in a certain amount of water. They travel very well."
"They will be given restaurant quality food and vitamins, and they will work out of wells which we've set up here."
Tillotson said the dolphins were trained not to swim up to mines, but to place a marker a small distance away, minimizing any danger to themselves.
Several mines were discovered last week on the back of ships along the Faw peninsula, but teams of divers searching around Umm Qasr port since Monday have not found any embedded mines.
What do you think of this? If they have bomb sniffing dogs, why not mine finding dolphins!
knew we had them - I think dolphins are more complicated and complex than a dog.
Don't know for sure, but dolphins are considered one of the brightest of animals!
there is lies part of the problem (well mine any way
)
Having been on a minesweeper myself and done some real mine searching (for old WWII mines), I know that sea mines are one of the most dogiest things to find.
I think to have dolphins as an additional aid is really not a bad idea.
While we used metal "dolphins", mammal minesearching has been used by the US Navy for quite some time:
Operational Fleet Systems
Hey!
I read a report a coupla months ago about the military's use of dolphins. That story was even more incredible. It said that dolphins were trained to search the water for possible enemy divers. Upon finding any enemy military in the water, the dolphin would nudge him and attach a kind of balloon to him. The balloon would rise to the water surface, and the marines on the ship would know there was someone in the water there they needed to 'fetch'. I couldnt believe it, but it was a serious report.
..and considering the hazardous nature of the work, they still work for scale!!
Darling dolphins have saved countless lives of sailors and swimmers since the dawn of humanity. The ones serving with the U.S. Navy live to be about 25 years, twice the average age they would otherwise reach, and are treated extremely well - obviously!
They are in no danger while searching for most underwater mines - magnetically exploding at the approach of metal - but may be at risk when approaching mines programmed to explode when detecting motion or - via infrared sensors - heat.
Animals - especially horses, mules, dogs, dolphins, pigeons (in the capacity of message carriers as well as that of poisonous gas detectors), and even elephants, have fought with us since the beginning of time, and with US armed forces most recently in Afghanistan and are helping now in Iraq. To my knowledge they're all being treated at least as well as the soldiers - which is only appropriate <G>
P.S. Dolphins truly are unbelievably intelligent - and they can count!
Was invited once to see them training at a giant water tank contained inside the hull of a ship at sea. The trainer was in the water in front of the dolphins - who had been told to "stay" by the edge of the pool; she threw fish from a bucket some distance into the pool counting "one, two, three.."until "... eleven". Then, bucket empty, she climbed back on the steps and started calling out the dolphins' names and each number in sequence: one by one the dolphins swam out and got each fish until she called out "twelve" and all dolphins turned around to look at her - there had been no fish # 12, and they knew it....
P.P.S. Walter - thanks so much for the link, also mentioning sea lions; hadn't realized they can dive to 1,000 feet! They're incredibly intelligent also and use "tools" like sharp stones to crack shellfish open. Btw - orcas (for some reason called killer-whales) really are big dolphins; abyssus abyssum invocat <G>
That is absolutely fascinating. I knew that dolphins were amazingly intelligent animals, but I had no idea they were being safely used to detect mines.
My initial gut instinct was "we can't use dolphins! They are an intelligent species, but we are not giving them the choice of undertaking a dangerous mission or refusing it. It isn't right to force a person or intelligent animal to take on a mission the risks of which she doesn't understand."
Reading on, I learned that it is a small risk, not a very significant one. That made me feel better about the whole situation.
Off to go read more about it...
Years ago (maybe after the 1st gulf war) I heard stories about dolphins trained to attach bombs to the bellies of boats and subs. Sad thing was that the dolphins were then blown to smitherines. Or that's what I remember.....
Little K - it seems incredible to me that dolphins would be sacrificed in lieu of a timer costing 50 cents; however if you can trace that source I promise to look up the appropriate person and get back to you and thread.
Need to get the bomb there without a traceable missile or whatever.... this link is basic and the source is not iron clad.
I little something
another ify link
link
Sorry for the side-track, but bees sniffing out bombs?
The Bees' Knees
LOL - hadn't heard about the bees. It's a national effort though, why wouldn't the bees join?!
One of the funniest threads ever was started on another forum by Steve 4100 and linked to an article on British Intelligence efforts to train gerbils to sniff out terrorists - yes, honestly! Will see if I can post a link here - back in a while.......
there are wired rat-packs - rats with little cam-packs which are steered remotely by humans into rubble and such. I think maybe cockroaches too....
I also ran across info about using dogs and donkeys in lieu of suicide bombers.
The things humans will think up...
OK - here's link to riotously funny thread about anti-terrorist gerbil units, as promised; there's also a cat involved:
http://boston.abuzz.com/interaction/s.234609/discussion
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