Most of us have heard, at least in passing, something about how the military has used dolphins

to perform certain tasks at sea, not just finding mimes, but possibly even planting them

on ships. We're tempted to wonder if there's any truth to this, or if it's just a dramatic

invention from the world of fiction. Well, spoiler alert, not only is it true, but it's

gotten a lot more sinister than you might care to guess. Military dolphins are coming up

next, Unskeptoid.

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You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com. Military dolphins,

James Bond's of the Sea. It was 1973 when one particular plot to assassinate the president

of the United States was thwarted. Dolphins, secretly trained for rudimentary communication with

humans, had been fitted with harnesses to hold a magnetic limpet mine, which was to be attached

to the hull of the president's yacht. It was the first time the public became aware that dolphins

were employed in this manner by the US military. This was, of course, not reality, but the plot of

the fictitious movie The Day of the Dolphin, starring George C. Scott as a virtuous marine scientist.

It played upon the idea that dolphins are used by the military to conduct dangerous underwater

attacks, such as planting limpet mines on ships and attacking divers. Most people have heard

these stories anecdotally, and we generally assume them to be true. And, like most urban legends,

...