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       January 19, 2012

　

(CNN Student News) -- January 19, 2012 Mine Detection AZUZ: And some of those species work for the U.S. Navy. Dolphins have been part of the Marine Mammal Program since the 1960s. These animals have a natural sonar ability called echolocation and they use it to help the Navy identify potential dangers. So you`ve heard of bomb-sniffing dogs? This is kind of like the underwater version. Kaj Larsen shows us how it all works. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAJ LARSEN, CNN REPORTING (voice-over): Dolphins` jobs go beyond what the Navy calls swimmer interdiction. It turns out that they are good at finding not only people in the water but also things, things like mines. BRADEN DURYEE, DOLPHIN TRAINER: So the animal is using its echolocation, looking out in front of the boat. LARSEN (voice-over): Braden Duryee supervises operations for the Marine Mammal Program and works with the Navy`s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit. DURYEE: Over time we have to train the animals to discriminate between -- you know, it could be a lobster trap. Oh, sorry. Got a positive. Right now the animal just went positive. LARSEN: All right, so what`s she doing now? DURYEE: Right now, she`s carrying the marker down to the mine shape that she`s told us she`s found. That means the marker has deployed. The diver`s going to go down, go to that anchor and then do a circle search, verify that the animal has found the target. LARSEN (voice-over): In 2003, the Navy performed this operation in wartime, deploying mine-detecting dolphins to Iraq to ensure safe passage for humanitarian ships, meaning some of these dolphins are Iraq war veterans. LARSEN: What about danger to the animal? You`re asking them to go get close to explosive devices underwater. HARRIS: Mines are very complicated, high-grade machinery. They are not set off to go on dolphins. They are set off to go on ships. (END VIDEO CLIP)