This article was taken from the November issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
From bees to dolphins, the animal kingdom fights for Uncle Sam
Pelusium, 525 BC. The Persian army ends 2,500 years of dynastic rule in Egypt with a secret weapon: cats. When the advancing Persians release a cohort of kittens, Egyptian archers refuse to risk killing the sacred creatures and the city is taken without a fight. Flash forward to today and animals remain on the front line -- although today’s armies might prefer recombinant feline DNA shots to give troops an eight-life upgrade. wired unveils the latest military animals.
Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions will patrol the waters off Seattle, to guard nuclear subs against terrorist swimmers. They are being trained to seek out underwater intruders using their biosonar.
The suicide rate among US veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is nearly double that of civilians. Now the US Army is using dogs to relieve some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are developing a bee bomb-disposal unit (see WIRED 01.10). The RF-tagged bees, when fed a sugar solution flavoured with explosive, seek out buried mines.
Scientists at the University of California can wirelessly control flower beetles with six micrometer-sized electrode stimulators implanted in their brains and muscles. Commissioned by the US government to build an insect spy army (bugs in both senses), the research showed that electrical pulses can be coded to communicate commands, such as “take off”, “land” and “turn right”.