Over the last few weeks, a beluga whale swimming in the Arctic off Norway has given rise to speculation that it is a spy being used by the Russians. Other marine mammals are known to have been used for military use, including bottlenose dolphins by the US Navy since the 1960s. The magazine cited the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War as examples when Navy dolphins helped clear mines. AdvertisingIn a recent report, Live Science quoted Pierre Béland, a researcher at the St Lawrence National Institute of Ecotoxicology in Montreal, as describing beluga whales as intelligent and easily trainable. Béland cited a precedent about a beluga whale found in the Black Sea in the 1990s, apparently having escaped from a Russian military facility.

Source: Indian Express May 13, 2019 22:30 UTC