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Vaquita. Photo Thomas Jefferson

Scientific Committee gives first ever official species extinction warning

Photo: Thomas Jefferson We have welcomed the urgent call by experts to protect the vaquita...
blue whale

Whale fossil from Peru may have been heavier than blue whale

Scientists examining the bones of a 39 million-year-old ancient whale have concluded that it may...
Humpback whale © Christopher Swann

Humpback whales breach in synchronisation

Humpback whales are renowned for their incredible acrobatic displays, but a family in the USA...
Long-finned pilot whale

Unusual activity witnessed before pilot whale stranding

Just days after a pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded on an island in the...

Russia looks to buy more dolphins for combat use

Documents have been released in Russia indicating that the country’s military are looking to obtain and train dolphins for naval combat missions.

Reports suggest that the dolphins will take part in a new training programme and will be delivered before August to the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, which has housed a military dolphin training centre since 1965.

In July, 2014, Ukraine’s military leaders requested that Russia return ‘its’ dolphins, which fell into Russian hands when Crimea was annexed in March of the same year.

In 2012, the US navy announced that it would wind down its long running programme training dolphins to detect underwater mines.

Military dolphins’ are confined in captivity, which can cause them extreme mental and physical stress and, as with other dolphins kept in marine parks and dolphinariums around the world, they live shorter lives than they would in the wild. They also suffer infections, gastric impaction (swallowing a foreign object), pneumonia, spinal fracture and drowning, and often die during military operations and exercises.

More on dolphins in captivity and WDC’s work.