Since ancient times, they have been helping people in difficult military service, who are they?
Dog
We can talk about the service of dogs for a long time, here are just some places where dogs serve:
- customs (search for weapons and drugs)
- border (search and arrest of violators)
- minefields (mine search)
- mountains (search and rescue of tourists caught by avalanches)
During the Second World War, suicide dogs blew up tanks carrying explosives under the tank on their backs, medical dogs delivered a medical bag to wounded soldiers.
Horse
For a long time, horses shared all the hardships of war with people, but not even 70 years have passed since they left the battlefield. Today, the cavalry performs a ceremonial function in memory of past feats. Her participation in parades, divorce of guards, reconstruction of battle scenes invariably enjoys with the audience no less success than the performances of aerobatic teams or the appearance of columns of armored vehicles on city streets. The gendarmerie continues to use horses to patrol pedestrian areas and parks, and to maintain order during public events.
Dolphin
The Americans in South Vietnam faced enemy underwater saboteurs, and an attempt was made to use dolphins to destroy them. A special device was fixed on the animal's body, consisting of a cylinder with compressed carbon dioxide and a long needle. A trained dolphin thrust this needle into the discovered diver, which caused him to receive a fatal barotrauma of internal organs and float to the surface. Between 1970 and 1971, 40 Vietnamese saboteur divers were killed in this way, as well as two Americans who happened to be in the zone protected by dolphins.
Sea lion
Commissioned by the US Navy, a group of sea lions were trained to find and raise small sunken objects from the bottom, which for some reason are of particular value. Each lion is equipped with an automatic grip, it is enough for the animal to find a sunken object and poke the “horns” fixed on its head into it, so that the grippers close and grip the find.
Seals
Arctic seals are superior to sea lions in reliability and speed of command execution. Moreover, they are not inferior to the dolphins of the southern seas in terms of the speed of developing the skills necessary for work. A huge plus of a seal is that it does not need a pool for transportation over long distances, it can stay on land for a long time, which is death for a dolphin. The seal is also capable of diving to great depths and developing high speeds under water. Suffice it to say that he easily floats behind a boat with a coach at a speed of 30-40 km / h.
Rats
Scientists from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, who trained giant African rats to track down anti-personnel mines. These rodents have no less keen sense of smell than dogs, but have a small (up to 3 kg) body weight, which reduces the risk of explosions. They suffer less from heat and tropical diseases than dogs, willingly perform monotonous repetitive actions, receiving food from the guide for each mine discovered. Now the Belgians have created a company specializing in the training of rats and their use in humanitarian demining in Mozambique and other African countries.
Buffalo
The Brazilian army uses water buffaloes in operations in the dense Amazonian jungle. Hardy, easily trained and, moreover, disease-resistant animals, Portuguese settlers brought several centuries ago from Asia to the island of Marajo in the Amazon Delta. The border of Brazil with neighboring states stretches over 11 thousand km along the inaccessible valley of this river. Its protection is provided by about 30 military bases supplied with air and river transport. But since the military has to track down drug producers and transporters, stop diamond smuggling and deforestation, and prevent militants from entering from Colombia, they are often forced to go on foot into rugged areas of the jungle, inaccessible to cars and boats. Therefore, a few years ago, at each Brazilian outpost, two or three animals were brought in, used to deliver ammunition, food and equipment in complete off-road conditions. The buffalo is able to carry up to 500 kg of cargo along narrow paths and channels of small rivers, while feeding on pasture and not giving out traces and unnecessary noise of the location of patrols.
Falcon
Since 1966, the airfield in Lossiemouth (Scotland) has been guarded by tame falcons. Before the falcons were recruited, about six hundred birds were constantly kept in the airfield area, and about once every two weeks there were collisions of birds with planes going to land. After the start of the falcon patrol flights, the clashes ceased.
Monkey
People's Daily Online, a Chinese government news site in English, published an article about the use of trained monkeys by the Afghan Taliban to fight US troops. It reports that the Taliban army has created a special squad of macaques and baboons, which the locals catch in the jungle and sell to the Taliban. Young primates are sent to a secret base for a training course that uses punishment and reward techniques (bananas and sticks). Macaques and monkeys are trained to use AK-47 assault rifles and Bern machine guns, while simultaneously "explaining" to them that weapons can only be used against people in American military uniforms.
Elephants
Elephants were tamed and used for military purposes for the first time in India. Until the 13th century, elephants were also used in the armies of the Middle Eastern and Southeastern states, for example, Khorezm and Burma, but in small numbers.
