Brandon Farrow
Mrs. Cox
English 1
11/11/13
Navy Dolphins
Dolphins are smart and amazing creatures. Scientists say they might almost be smarter than humans; they adapt really quick to their environment. The Navy is one branch of the United States armed forces that conducts military operations at sea. The Navy has programs with animals to help them protect the nation. The Navy and dolphins work together to control warfare in the water by using their sonar to track underwater mines and to keep citizens safe. These next paragraphs will explain how the dolphins and navy work together.
One of the first dolphins used by the Navy was Tuffy. “Tuf Goy [Tuffy] joined the marine mammal ...view middle of the document...
The first attempt of Tuffy to indicate the cradle missile failed but the second attempt in late October was successful and Tuffy indicated and found a $4,700 cradle missile and successfully recovered it. Tuffy did not stop there; he then started locating drill mines for the Pacific Marine Force (Wood, 1973).
Dolphins continue to be trained for the Navy and are still being used today. “To train [dolphins] for finding real mines, dolphins first practice looking for fake mines with no explosives” (Persnall, 2002). In Ashley Barforoush’s 2012 article, the author explains that trainers set up practice mines in the San Diego Harbor, and after just a few exercises the dolphins know exactly where to find the fake mines. She then quotes an expert, on dolphin training, saying; “they rearrange the course to make a different “Easter Egg Hunt” (Barforoush, 2012). Handlers train dolphins to never touch the target mines by making them all different shapes and sizes (Persnall 2002). On page 28-29 of Navy Dolphins it explains how the dolphins are safe from the harm of an exploding mine. Whenever the dolphin swims close to the object [fake mine], the trainer blows his whistle, then rewards the dolphin with a fish. Soon the dolphin realizes that whenever it swims close to this object, it is rewarded. Thus, it tends too swim close to often. If the dolphin touches or swims too close to the object, it is not rewarded. Eventually the dolphin is given a marker and learns to place it near the object, but not on it—again being rewarded for remaining safe distance from the mine.
The dolphins have very high-level biological sonar so they can easily find mines. Budzyna explains that dolphins can find mines whether they are buried on the ocean floor or floating around. Although dolphin training seems easy, dolphins are animals and are unpredictable in their nature, which makes them difficult to use. In the book Navy Dolphins, “dolphins become scared, feed on other...
