By Gidget Fuentes*
Since 1959, the US Navy has trained a small force of bottlenose dolphins and sea lions to recover lost equipment, intercept intruders in ports, and detect buried sea mines, the Business Insider reports.
This year, the Navy sought to end one of those marine mammals’ most important missions — hunting for and neutralizing mines buried in the seabed — and use sophisticated underwater vehicles and sensors instead. But there’s a problem: That technology hasn’t yet equaled a dolphin’s unique ability to find mines.
