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dolphin + (5)
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flapjax at midnite (3)
homunculus (2)
kliuless (2)

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program has been training the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) in mine and swimmer detection for many years. (The program was declassified in the 1990s.) Military dolphins were used in the first and second Gulf Wars, and there are rumors they are deployed in the Gulf today. These animals could be important if Iran blockades the Hormuz Strait as threatened.
posted by blob on Jan 14, 2012 - 31 comments

You're probably most familiar with the phenomenon when it appears like this (well until that wizard starts showing off) but did you know that vortex rings can also be created by dolphins? [more inside]
posted by PapaLobo on Sep 25, 2011 - 21 comments

Dolphin Paratroopers "The most bizarre Soviet marine mammal system was a dolphin paratrooper. A dolphin wore a harness attached to a parachute, and could be dropped from heights up to 3,000 meters." Not a computer game, but Brian "Skeptoid" Dunning on the military's killer dolphins in the US and elsewhere. All the more fascinating for being soberly researched and bullshit-free.
posted by Paul Slade on Jun 9, 2011 - 37 comments

Surely this.......will warm your black, cynical, withered MeFi hearts ya misanthropes! Labrador Retriever/Dolphin love! (SLYT)
posted by spicynuts on Sep 3, 2010 - 28 comments

A Mind in the Water: The dolphin as our beast of burden. "The shocking double life of the dolphin, featuring neuropsychologists, hippies, spies, and extraterrestrials."
posted by homunculus on May 8, 2010 - 21 comments

The team described the mammals' injuries as "perhaps the worst example of inter-specific aggression any of us had ever seen. This young female had literally had the life beaten out of her."
posted by Drasher on Feb 23, 2010 - 48 comments

Dolphins are so smart that they can convince fish to leap out of the water and into their mouths. (slyt)
posted by ardgedee on Jan 25, 2010 - 50 comments

TV star. Amusement park attraction. Mine sweeper. Stew meat. Funded by SGI & Netscape founder James Clark, award-winning documentary The Cove goes undercover for an inside look at the brutal slaughter of dolphins in the Japanese town of Taiji. Previously.
posted by kanuck on Aug 6, 2009 - 20 comments

Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates
posted by hermitosis on Apr 14, 2009 - 78 comments

Albino Dolphins are pink.
posted by - on Mar 6, 2009 - 27 comments

I, for one, welcome our new loner female, tool-using dolphin overlords. [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Dec 27, 2008 - 40 comments

Dolphin rescues beached whales [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Mar 16, 2008 - 32 comments

Dolphins create rings of air bubbles! [more inside]
posted by proj08 on Jan 20, 2008 - 47 comments

Some dolphins are easy and some are murderous rapists, but all of them are into the nookie. Amazon River Dolphins are the casanovas of the cetacean order, practised in selecting the finest mud glops or algae for that special cow.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur on Dec 5, 2007 - 14 comments

Dr. John C. Lilly introduced the world to dolphin intelligence (previous post), floatation tanks, early concepts of bioinformatics, and alas, during his later experiments with Ketamine ("Special K"), introduced us to an alleged group of extraterrestrials. [more inside]
posted by janetplanet on Sep 7, 2007 - 23 comments

Rogue nations? Nah, that's old stuff. What we're looking for now is rogue swimmers. Well, actually, it's the dolphins and sea lions that are looking for them. Of course, there's always the possibility that the animals will become the rogues and terrorists themselves.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Feb 13, 2007 - 4 comments

It's the season once again for the annual dolphin drives in Japan, the appallingly cruel (see "Les massacres" video) practice of herding into shallow waters and brutally slaughtering these highly intelligent, self-aware and emotional creatures. There are those trying to stop it, and should you be so inclined, you can sign their petition.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Nov 20, 2006 - 62 comments

A recent article recently came out in the Wall Street Journal, which cited new study from Stanford about animal consciousness. Elephants grieve, bees create mental maps, dolphins recognize themselves in mirrors. Snakes have more brain cells than humans, and chickens worry about the future. What are your thoughts? Does this change the way we treat animals?
posted by PetBoogaloo on Nov 3, 2006 - 86 comments

Echolocation : bats use it. So do whales and dolphins. And humans? The 14-year-old profiled here and here is using it. Learn more about how blind people are employing perception and processing of the auditory environment: where words like flash and tags have an altogether different meaning.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Aug 21, 2006 - 28 comments

Friday Flash Fun: Dolphin Edition. It takes a little practice, and you probably should read the directions first.
WARNING: May lead to a drop in productivity, sensation of lost time, or feelings of isolation.
posted by kyleg on Aug 18, 2006 - 16 comments

Killer military dolphins on the loose! From the farce department: The Observer reports that "Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico."

36 dolphins trained under the US Navy's Cetacean Intelligence Mission escaped from their training pools in post-Katrina flooding. Prior to Katrina, the Navy always denied traning dolphins to fire guns and blowdarts underwater. Conspiracy theorists, however, claimed the military was training dolphins to attack enemy divers with blowguns. Apparently, the tin-foil hat brigade was right on this one, as the Navy confirmed they were training dolphins "for offensive warfare".

And in related news, Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs.
posted by huskerdont on Sep 25, 2005 - 35 comments

dolphins protect human swimmers
"A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday."
posted by specialk420 on Nov 23, 2004 - 73 comments

Doplhins and whales have no standing to sue. This is a sad day for the cetacean community. The time for revolution is now.
posted by homunculus on Oct 21, 2004 - 12 comments

Is The Blood Red Water For Real? A discussion on egullet, of all places, suggests at least one of these shocking pictures (inside) has been retouched. A more interesting question is: is it OK to "enhance" real evidence, if the salient facts are true? Or even, more radically, if the cause is just and dedicated to save lives or relieve suffering?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Nov 1, 2003 - 69 comments

Dolphin or Shark? It's a question that has been brewing on surf boards (ha!) for months. After much armchair marine biology, the photographer posted the answer on his own site.
posted by mathowie on Jul 25, 2003 - 31 comments

According to UPI, the United States has been offered by coalition partner Morocco its tide-turning force of 2,000 monkeys trained to detonate land mines. It wouldn't be so unbelievable if the U.S. wasn't already training dolphins and sea lions to do the same. Considering the carnage already happening to humans in Iraq, this news doesn't inspire thoughts of happy endings for our animal friends.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Mar 27, 2003 - 28 comments

Run Ricky Run. Ricky Williams, running-back for the Miami Dolphins, gets an A for effort for designing and maintaining his own website. He keeps a journal where he sounds off on everything from battling fame and the perks that come with it, to meeting his idol (Jim Brown). He even talks about money problems, just on a much larger scale then you or I would have.
posted by Starchile on Nov 26, 2002 - 15 comments

Watch out, British swimmers: horny dolphin in the water! If there are any parties interested in reciprocal advances, it's strongly advised that you read this important Dolphin Mating info first. (some explicit content) Hmmm, wasn't this an episode of King of the Hill?)
posted by brownpau on Jun 4, 2002 - 8 comments

John C. Lilly dies. Inventor of the isolation tank and pioneer of dolphin/human communications and all around cool counterculture guy. He will be missed. [Lilly homepage]
posted by skallas on Oct 3, 2001 - 6 comments

Research demonstrates mirror self-recognition in dolphins, an interesting dolphin link.
posted by bjgeiger on May 1, 2001 - 12 comments

project delphis
an organization called earthtrust started project delphis in 1985 to determine how intelligent and self-conscious dolphins actually are. this is very cool.
posted by bwg on Apr 5, 2001 - 19 comments

A Stunning finding Perhaps some rock groups do this too.
posted by Postroad on Jan 31, 2001 - 1 comment

This reminds me of a quote, or, well, there are different version of this. "If dolphins are so smart, why don't they get a job?" Was it on Simpsons? or? Ohh well.
"Janik, a Scottish biologist now at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, said that the signaling pattern of the dolphins is similar to what experts believe happened when ancient human beings first began organized speech."
posted by tiaka on Aug 25, 2000 - 4 comments

Do we really need virtual dolphins? While I really find biomimetic research fascinating, I do sometimes wonder what it will end up actually producing. Then again, I am the guy who secretly wants it to produce battlesuits so I can play Iron Man or what have you. I'm shallow that way.
posted by Ezrael on Jun 15, 2000 - 2 comments