Following the discovery of a ‘Lost world’ full of unknown species in an unexplored Australian rainforest last week, a team of researchers working for the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and numerous other groups have found a species of humpback dolphin previously unknown to science swimming in the waters off northern Australia.
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The Ukraine has trained dolphins to be attack animals, ready to go after enemy swimmers, wearing knives on their noses. The Soviet Union originated this program, and turned over to Ukraine after the Cold War. The program includes training dolphins to search for underwater mines and mark them with buoys.
On the Wired.com website, Robert Beckhusen quotes the US Navy, which also has a trained mammal program, as saying, "Since dolphins cannot discern the difference between enemy and friendly vessels, or enemy and friendly divers and swimmers, it would not be wise to give that kind of decision authority to an animal."
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Amid growing concerns about the spread of harmful mercury in plants and animals, a new study compared levels of the chemical in captive dolphins with dolphins found in the wild. The captive animals were fed a controlled diet, while the wild mammals dined on marine life that may carry more of the toxic metal.
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Some researchers think we should leave them alone, but biologist Denise L. Herzing, who is the world’s leading authority on dolphins and has been studying them for 25 years, believes in relating to them. In the September 20th edition of the New York Times, Erik Olsen quotes her as saying, “I’m kind of an old-school naturalist. I really believe in immersing yourself in the environment of the animal."
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