Military Animals - Other Specialized Functions

Other Specialized Functions

Beginning in the Cold War era, research has been done into the uses of many species of marine mammals for military purposes. The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program uses military dolphins and sea lions for underwater sentry duty, mine clearance, and object recovery.

On land, the Gambian giant pouched rat has been tested with considerable success as specialised mine detecting animals, as its keen sense of smell helps in the identification of explosives and its small size prevents it from triggering mines.

Cats were used in the Royal Navy to control vermin on board ships. Able seacat Simon of HMS Amethyst received the Dickin Medal.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Nationalist pilots attached fragile supplies to live turkeys, which descended flapping their wings, thus serving as parachutes which could also be eaten by the defenders of the monastery of Santa Maria de la Cabeza.

Chicken were used during the Gulf Wars to detect poisonous gasses, in an operation called Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC); the US marines designation for chicken used in this role was Poultry Chemical Confirmation Devices. The plan was put on hold after 41 of 43 chicken used for such purposes died within a week of arrival in Kuwait. During the First Gulf War, the Weekly World News published a fictional account how such a chicken was awarded a medal after saving a French general's life.

Furthermore, use of military chickens was proposed in the British Blue Peacock project. The scheme involved burying nuclear bombs in the ground for later detonation should occupied (West) Germany be overrun by WARPAC forces. The primitive electronic devices of the 1950s were unreliable in frozen ground, and the chickens were considered as a source of biogenic heat. This story has often been reported as an April Fool's joke, but it has since been declassified and proven correct.