From sniffing out bombs to protecting soldiers from toxic gas, here are 11 animals used by
the military.
11.)
Bats The bat bomb was a strange experimental weapon
developed by the United States military during World War II.
It was designed to start thousands of fires in cities across Japan in retribution for
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The bat bomb plan called for 1,000 live bats per bomb, with a tiny incendiary device fitted
to each bat.
All 1,000 bats would then be housed inside a casing that could be dropped from an American
warplane over Japan.
The idea was that the bats and their attached incendiaries would then seek shelter in wooden
Japanese homes and buildings to roost in, where they would kindle fires for the war
effort.
President Roosevelt approved the plan in 1942.
The United States Military than spent about $2 million trying to get the plan to work.
More than 6,000 bats were used in the bat bomb tests.
However, most of them plunged straight to the ground or just flew away.
They did manage to set fire to a simulated Japanese village and the car of a general
before the program was completely abandoned.
The plot was almost perfect, but not quite.
10.)
Rats In 2012, U.S. Army officials highlighted their
use of rats in the Rugged Automated Training System (RATS)- get it??- which was developed
to see how well the rodents could find bombs.
In Cambodia, each rat is responsible for clearing a 200-square-meter (239-square-yard) patch
of land during its training.
Specifically, these are African giant pouched rats, which are larger than the average rat.
They are about 2 feet long (60.96 cm) from head to tail.
Their eyesight is terrible, but their sense of smell is extraordinary.
The rats can detect the presence of TNT in amounts starting at 29 grams (about 1 ounce).
The use of rats could have several advantages, including that their small size would allow
them to sneak into tiny spaces where larger animals and people cannot.
Landmines continue to be one of the world’s most dangerous weapons, especially in post-conflict
countries.
Scattered across 78 countries, these weapons of war can remain buried beneath the surface
for decades, and their deadly nature does not diminish over time.
It is estimated that about 800 people are killed by landmines on a monthly basis.
If rats are able to detect landmines, and remove them, this could be a huge advantage
for not only the military but also civilians in countries that are still affected by war.
Bet you didn’t expect that rats are saving lives!
9.)
Elephants Due to their massive size and powerful tusks,
elephants have been used in the military since ancient times.
Elephant units were first incorporated in militaries in India about 4,000 years ago.
Throughout history, famous generals including Hannibal, and Alexander the Great used elephants
to crush their opponents.
There were 37 elephants in the Second Punic War with Hannibal.
They famously traveled from Spain, through Gaul, over the Alps, and into northern Italy.
How any of them survived the journey is still a wonder!
War elephants were usually deployed in the center of the line, where the imposing beasts
would charge at up to 20 miles per hour toward the enemy.
Their thick skin made it hard for enemies to injure them up close and they could easily
crush enemy lines and throw soldiers out of the way.
They were also used to carry heavy materials across difficult terrain before the invention
tanks and helicopters.
Their trunks could carry spears and other weapons easily and could knock down fortifications
and were even used to help armies cross rivers.
Elephants are very intelligent and take well to training, but no matter how well prepared
and disciplined they are, they are still wild at heart which made them hard to use in combat.
On more than one occasion, elephants panicked and trampled friendly soldiers during confrontations.
However, the elephant was not very fearful of enemy lines and only panicked when there
was cannon fire since they were such a big target.
Most recently, elephants were used in the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong to move supplies.
Even today, Burmese rebels use elephants in their fight against
the government.
7.)
Camels Most people would never think of camels in
the United States, but up until the end of the Civil War, camels were a huge part of
the US military.
While the use of camels has died down, they are still used in desert regions around the
world.
They have always been valued in the military due to their ability to handle long marches
with little water and extreme temperatures.
Archaeologists think camels were first tamed as pack animals and as herd animals for milk
and meat in North Africa and the Middle East around 3,000 years ago.
The first recorded use of camels in war is in 853 B.C., when the Arab king Gindibu fielded
1,000 camels in an allied army united against the Assyrians at the Battle of Qarqar, in
modern-day Syria.
In World War I, both the Ottoman and Allied forces in the Middle East included camel cavalry
among their forces.
However, camels during war were not only used to carry military supplies during long marches.
They were also used to carry the wounded from the front lines to hospitals.
Today, the Texas Camel Corps is trying to bring back the camel and its little known
history by taking groups through Texas’s Big Bend.
6.)
Seals and Sea Lions Seals and sea lions are being used as advanced
tactical weapons by the most powerful militaries in the world.
Putin now has combat seals trained to plant explosives on hostile vessels, guard undersea
pipelines and hunt for objects in Arctic waters.
During the Cold War, east and west trained dolphins and whales to attack enemy divers
with special knives or pistols fixed to their heads.
The advantage of using seals and sea lions is that they are easily trainable and smart.
The Navy loves using sea lions.
Sea lions have excellent low-light vision and underwater hearing, and can swim 25 miles
per hour (40 km/h).
They can do repeated dives to depths of up to 1,000 feet (305 meters)!
A special sea lion harness also carries cameras that can provide live underwater video footage.
Just one sea lion, two human handlers, and a rubber boat can replace a full-sized naval
vessel, its crew and a group of human divers to search for objects on the ocean floor.
Sea lions are trained to detect any swimmer who is in a restricted area.
The animal clamps a "bite plate" onto the swimmer's leg and takes the attached tether
back to his handler, effectively capturing a diver!!!
The sea lions are so fast that the clamp is on before the swimmer is even aware of it.
These specially trained sea lions, part of the Navy’s Shallow Water Intruder Detection
System, patrol Navy bases and were even deployed to protect ships from terrorists in the Persian
Gulf.
Furthermore, seals and sea lions have an advantage over other marine mammals, such as dolphins,
used by the military because they can chase their enemy onto land if needed.
They can resist changes in water temperature and and have lots of teeth to defend themselves.
No robot can replace what seals and sea lions do for militaries.
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5.)
Bees Bees have been used in the military for centuries.
The Romans seem to have an especially bad history with bees.
In 69 B.C., the Heptakometes of the Trebizond region in Turkey tricked invading soldiers
under the command of the Roman General Pompeii by leaving hives filled with poisoned honey
along the route of their march.
Soldiers would stop to eat some, get sick and die!
It’s actually hard to find examples of cultures that did NOT use bees as weapons in some capacity.
We have known for a long time that honeybees can be trained to detect all kinds of smells,
from drugs to deadly explosives.
Bees have antennas that are able to sense pollen in the wind and track it down to specific
flowers.
By mixing the target substance with sugar water and then giving it to a bee, the been
can then recognize that distinct smell, just like it would for a flower.
Now, they are being trained by the military to smell bombs.
The bees are trained to believe that the sugar water is located near TNT.
A honeybee bomb detection unit looks like a simple box and can be located anywhere like
outside airport security, or on a train platform.
Inside the box, bees are strapped into tubes and exposed to puffs of air where they constantly
check for the faint scent of a bomb.
A video camera linked to pattern recognition software alerts authorities when the bees
start waving their proboscises in unison, alerting them to the smell.
4.)
Mules Mules have played an unglamourous but crucial
role throughout the history of warfare by carrying or hauling most of the food, water,
tents, weapons, ammunition and other supplies needed by armies.
Mules were a piece of equipment that could take supplies where no truck or jeep could
go.
In fact, mules were preferred over horses when carrying large loads because they had
better endurance and because they were a bit calmer than horses.
In World War II, mules were used to carry the wounded off the front lines, and were
often injured themselves because they would be targeted by machine guns.
Many mules gave their lives to protect soldiers on the front lines as they would block the
onset of bullets with their bodies.
Today, there is a renewed interest in using pack animals in warfare.
Special Forces missions have used mules all over the world and the US specifically has
used mules in Afghanistan, where they help keep open supply lines to remote mountain
outposts and assist in medical evacuation.
3.)
Dogs While dogs have been used in military conflicts
for hundreds of years, it was not until World War II when they were officially recognized
as an asset by the US.
One of the earliest accounts of dogs fighting in battle comes from the early kingdom of
Lydia in Asia Minor around 600 B.C., which is where a pack of Lydian war dogs routed
and killed a number of invaders.
Dogs were used extensively by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and even Attila the Hun.
Fun fact: now, around 85% of military working dogs are purchased from Germany and the Netherlands.
A famous dog was Sergeant Stubby, who served on the Western Front during WWI.
He went on to do many things to help his fellow soldiers, such as detect gas, bark out warnings
when rival troops were near, and locate the wounded on the battlefield.
He saved his regiment from several gas attacks and caught several German soldiers.
Today, there are over 2,500 dogs used by American forces alone.
Almost half of them are overseas.
Dogs of war today are mainly limited to the battlefield roles of messengers, trackers,
scouts, and sentries alongside human handlers.
Only about 50% of the dogs make it through training.
Those that do have an average 98% accuracy in detecting bombs and drugs and are a priceless
asset and companion to those who serve.
2.)
Bears Bears appear a few times in the history of
warfare, but one bear in particular became famous for his exploits against the Germans
during World War II.
Wojtek (pronounced Voytek) was a Syrian brown bear cub adopted by troops from a Polish supply
company who purchased him while they were stationed in Iran.
When the Polish troops were moved around as the war progressed, Wojtek went too.He would
bathe and wrestle with his fellow soldiers and even captured a theif that had broken
into the ammunition compound where he was sleeping.
He took part in battle zones in Iraq, Palestine, Egypt and then Italy.
Eventually, Wojtek had grown to weigh more than 880 pounds (400 kg) and stood more than
6 feet (1.8 meters) tall.
He was also enlisted as a private soldier in the supply company, with his own paybook,
rank and serial number, and eventually rose to the rank of corporal in the Polish Army.
In the 1940s, Wojtek was sent with his unit to Monte Casino in Italy, during one of bloodiest
series of battles of World War II, where he helped carry crates of ammunition.
1.
Dolphins In 2016, the Russian government put out an
ad to purchase 5 combat dolphins with perfect teeth.
They didn’t say what they wanted the dolphins for, but you can use your imagination.
Countries have been using dolphins for underwater military tasks for over 50 years.
The US Navy has had a dolphin training program since the 1960’s when they tried to create
a missile that looked like a dolphin.
Then someone realized that dolphins were highly trainable and adaptable as well as being more
precise than other marine mammals such as belugas.
Navy dolphins (and other military dolphins belonging to other countries) are usually
trained to find underwater mines.
They are not usually trained to attack but that depends on the military.
For the Navy they are trained to alert their handler to enemy swimmers or divers who are
trespassing on underwater military property.
In the Vietnam war they were deployed to protect ships and submarines at the American base
in Cam Rahn Bay and then most recently in the Iran-Iraq war where they protected vessels
in the Persian Gulf.
The Navy has been sued by animal activists for taking dolphins out of the wild and forcing
them to work in icy waters, leading to the death of some dolphins.
They settled the case promised to suspend projects in colder waters and to stop taking
dolphins from the wild.
The US Navy has also claimed that it has never trained dolphins to kill but former dolphin
trainers have claimed otherwise.
Russia has made no such promises although because they are such a priceless asset, there
is really no reason to send them into active combat.
What do you think about using animals for military purposes?
Let us know in the comments below.
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