The real navy seals: Animals in action

Many different animals are used for highly specialized tasks. Dogs are often used by law enforcement and customs officers, and they're also deployed to detect drugs, explosives, and even data carriers. US General McKenzie has said military dogs "help protect US troops, save the lives of civilians, keep combatants and non-combatants apart, and immobilize hostile individuals."

Security agencies also enlist the help of other animals, however. Dutch police, for example, use eagles to fight enemy drones. Should drones get too close to nuclear power plants or such key sites, the birds can bring them down. Dutch authorities train the eagles to treat drones as potentially pray. But there are other heroic birds, too — like canaries ...

So, what special ability can canaries offer? Can they hunt down terrorists, sniff out explosives, or bring down dangerous drones? None of the above. But they have been deployed along the border between North and South Korea to detect poisonous gas.

South Korea was concerned North Korea could attack it with toxic gas, so it set up cages with canaries along the border. If the birds would fall of their perch and die, South Koreans would know it was time to don the gas masks. Why? Because canaries are so small that they are much more susceptible to tiny amounts of gas.

Laika, a small Russian dog, was the first ever animal to be launched into space. It happened on November 3, 1957, and was intended to show off the Soviet Union's spaceflight prowess. Laika, however, paid with her life. It is believed she died from stress and overheating. She was not the first animal with such a special mission, however.

Pigeons used to be deployed to send messages, which were written on pieces of paper that they carried. In World War I, they were also used to take photographs of enemy positions. Unfortunately, the cameras used at the time could only take one or two photographs. Later, they were reportedly able to snap up to 12.

Like dogs, rats also have a keen sense of smell, and because they are so much lighter, they are used in some parts of the world to detect land mines; there is a much lower risk that they might accidentally set off an unexploded land mine. But what do you do about naval mines? What kind of animals can hep detect them?

There is an animal that is perfect for finding underwater mines: the dolphin. This one answers to the name K-Dog and shows off a camera mounted on its pectoral fin. It is employed by the US Navy. During the Cold War, both the US and the Soviet Union used dolphins in their naval marine mammal programs. Russia claims it has phased out the program; the US has not.

In addition to dolphins, the US Navy also uses seals to detect water mines, as seen here in a training exercise in Bahrain. Beyond mines, seals and dolphins can also detect divers and protect ships and ports. It has been rumored that dolphins can also be used for attacks, for instance, by attaching mines to enemy vessels.

Finally, we turn to a military and police veteran: the horse. Horses have been used for military and policing purposes for millennia. In the Middle Ages they carried knights; today they carry police officers — as above, working security at a soccer match in London. What makes them such good animals for the force? Well, they work like a horse, of course.