Animals have been used in wars for a long time. Be it Hannibal’s elephants in battle against the Romans, horses transporting soldiers and military equipment, or even trained rats finding mines.
Animals are used by armies not only on land, but also in the water. For example, dolphins, sea lions and whales are still being trained for espionage today.
In this way, trained sea lions can track down terrorists, spies or enemy navy divers under water – and even sound the alarm. Pictured here: sea lion “Jack” with former frigate captain Arne Krüger from the German Navy.
The US military has also been using dolphins for decades – trained animals were already used in the Vietnam and Iraq wars. The fast and agile marine mammals orientate themselves under water with high-frequency clicking sounds, with which they can get a precise picture of their surroundings. The same also applies to whales. They have been helping the US military spy on submarines since the Cold War era. To do this, the soldiers attach a camera to the mammals’ bodies.
But dolphins are not only used for searching, but also for attacking. This allows them to deploy mines against enemy ships. The US military has also trained the animals to snatch mouthpieces from divers and attack them with knives tied to the animals’ fins beforehand.
The Russian Navy is also said to be using trained dolphins in the war against Ukraine. Satellite images show two swimming dolphin tanks in the port of Sevastopol – the Russian Navy’s naval base in Crimea. Experts suspect that the animals are trained, among other things, to ward off enemy Navy divers.
The Russian Dolphin Army was already built up in Soviet times. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was first handed over to Ukraine. After the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia, the dolphins came back into Russian possession. Now the “Dolphin Army” project is being further expanded and is considered the secret weapon of the Russian Navy.
At the height of the Cold War, the dolphin army is said to have numbered around 100 animals on both the Soviet and US sides. In addition to Russia and the USA, Israel and North Korea are said to have trained dolphins in the service of the military today.
In April 2019, a beluga whale caused a stir off the coast of Norway. The animal keeps approaching fishermen – it looks as if it is used to people. An investigation reveals that the whale is wearing a harness with a camera. On it is written in English: “Equipment St. Petersburg”. It is now speculated that the beluga whale may have been used by the Russian Navy for espionage purposes. Russia, however, rejects the accusation.