Nature
Killer Dolphin Escape to Black Sea Story a Hoax, Reports Say [VIDEO]
SWR Staff Writer
First Posted: Mar 13, 2013 11:23 AM EDT
Reports of three "killer" dolphins which had escaped from an aquarium where they were being trained into the Black Sea in search of mates, is actually nothing but a hoax, according to a Russian news sites, New-Sebasopol.
The hoax began when another Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, quoted a former Soviet naval anti-sabotage officer as saying that the killer dolphins had escaped, probably in pursuit of mates.
The news agency, citing the Ukrainian media, said only two of five military-trained "killer" dolphins returned to their base in the port city of Sevastopol after recent exercises.
The truth is that dolphins really are trained for commando missions at Sevastopol for the Soviet navy. This practice dates as far back as 1973, but Ukraine took over the unit after the Soviet breakup and the splitting of the Black Sea fleet into the Ukrainian and Russian fleets.
"But before you start having nightmares about dolphins shooting out of the ocean with weapons jutting out of their snouts, consider this," says Uri Friedman at Foreign Policy: The RIA Novosti report "is based on unconfirmed speculation from one expert - and there's no indication that the dolphins were armed even if they did escape earlier this month." In fact, all the "hysteria about Ukraine's killer dolphins" started with RIA Novosti in the first place, and what is it based on? "An anonymous 'military source.'"
Below is a 45-minute documentary on the real military dolphins that the Ukraine inherited from the Soviets:
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First Posted: Mar 13, 2013 11:23 AM EDT
Reports of three "killer" dolphins which had escaped from an aquarium where they were being trained into the Black Sea in search of mates, is actually nothing but a hoax, according to a Russian news sites, New-Sebasopol.
The hoax began when another Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, quoted a former Soviet naval anti-sabotage officer as saying that the killer dolphins had escaped, probably in pursuit of mates.
The news agency, citing the Ukrainian media, said only two of five military-trained "killer" dolphins returned to their base in the port city of Sevastopol after recent exercises.
The truth is that dolphins really are trained for commando missions at Sevastopol for the Soviet navy. This practice dates as far back as 1973, but Ukraine took over the unit after the Soviet breakup and the splitting of the Black Sea fleet into the Ukrainian and Russian fleets.
"But before you start having nightmares about dolphins shooting out of the ocean with weapons jutting out of their snouts, consider this," says Uri Friedman at Foreign Policy: The RIA Novosti report "is based on unconfirmed speculation from one expert - and there's no indication that the dolphins were armed even if they did escape earlier this month." In fact, all the "hysteria about Ukraine's killer dolphins" started with RIA Novosti in the first place, and what is it based on? "An anonymous 'military source.'"
Below is a 45-minute documentary on the real military dolphins that the Ukraine inherited from the Soviets:
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone