U.S. Navy To Retire Mine-Sweeping Dolphins And Use Robots Instead

The Knifefish, an unmanned underwater vehicle, should be hunting for mines by 2017. Soon, dolphins and sea lions won't be hunting mines any more. The U.S. Navy is phasing out the Marine Mammal Program. Though trained sea mammals have been serving the Navy for 50 years, they're retiring to make way for cheaper, easier-to-manage robots. Dolphins use sonar-like echolocation--essentially, seeing with their ears--which makes them beasts at finding mines in water. After training the animals, they also...