Animal Soldiers: Hannibal's Elephants to Ukraine's Killer Dolphins

As Ukraine's navy dolphins defect to Russia, their story sheds light on the strange and secret history of attack animals

It sounds like a sketch dreamed up by Monty Python: the Ukrainian Navy’s secret unit of attack dolphins has defected to Russia.

Borys the Bottlenose has jumped ship, or rather swum under the ship, and taken his fellow dolphins, capable of laying mines, attacking divers and spotting submarines, with him.

It turns out that when Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Crimea he was interested not just in extending Russia’s territory, but its crew of killer cetacean mammals, too.

The story, however is completely true. An employee of the Russian navy said they had exciting plans for their latest spoils of war: “Our experts have developed new devices, which convert the detection of objects by the dolphins underwater sonar to a signal on an operator’s monitor.”

The killer dolphins are a reminder that animals have often been used in warfare – not just as beasts of burden, trusty steeds or loyal mascots, but also as front-line soldiers. The huge number of horses killed during World War I is well documented – nearly one horse perished for every two men killed and, in total, an estimated 16 million animals served during the war.

But what is less well known is the long history of reptiles, birds and mammals used as actual combatants.

One of the earliest recorded uses of attack animals was during the Diadochi wars in around 300BC. A good century before Hannibal’s legendary trek across the Alps using elephants, the huge beasts were being harnessed. But it was believed that elephants were scared of even a small squeal. So, the Megarians poured oil on a herd of pigs, set them alight, and drove them towards the enemy’s massed war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror at the sight and sound of the screaming pigs. Wouldn’t you? Whether the victorious Megarians feasted on barbecued pork to celebrate is unknown.

Generals in the Song dynasty of China liked to dress monkeys in straw waistcoats, dip them in oil and torch them before releasing them towards the enemy’s camp. The idea was that the enemy’s tents would soon be ablaze.

This, in some ways, is little different from the tactic used by Russians during World War II, when they strapped bombs to the backs of dogs in an attempt to blow up the invading German tanks.

The logic was sound – the underside of a German Panzer is surprisingly vulnerable. And the dogs were trained thoroughly, with 12 specialised anti-tank dog schools set up run by Red Army Mary Whitehouses, who placed food under tanks to teach them to scurry under the vehicles. On their back they had a wire sticking up, which would set off the bomb – and the accompanying canine – the moment it touched the tank.

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