Military animals aretrained animals that are used inwarfare and othercombat related activities. Asworking animals, different military animals serve different functions.Horses,elephants,camels, and other animals have been used for both transportation andmounted attack.Pigeons were used for communication and photographic espionage. Many other animals have been reportedly used in various specialized military functions, includingrats andpigs.Dogs have long been employed in a wide variety of military purposes, more recently focusing on guarding andbomb detection, and along withdolphins andsea lions are in active use today.^[1]

• Thehorse was the most widely used animal throughout the recordedhistory of warfare. Early mounts could pull achariot or carry lightly armoredskirmishing forces. With the appearance of heavier mounts and the invention of thestirrup, the horse-mountedcavalry became the most prestigiouscombat arm inEurope for several centuries. A knight'swarhorse was trained to bite and kick.The combination of the horse-mounted warrior armed with abow made thesteppe people's armies the most powerful military force inAsian history. Horse-drawnwar wagons were used by theHussites during theHussite Wars.^{[citation needed]} With the appearance of modern ranged weapons andmotor vehicles, horse use for military purposes fell into decline. However, horses and mules are still used extensively by various armies today for transport in difficult terrain.
• Whileelephants are not considereddomesticable, they can be trained to serve as mounts, or for moving heavy loads.Sanskrit hymns record their use for military purposes as early as 1,100B.C. A group of elephants was employed byHannibal during theSecond Punic War. They were employed as recently asWorld War II by both theJapanese andAllies. Elephants could perform the work of machines in locations where vehicles could not penetrate, so they found use in theBurma Campaign.^[4]
• Camels have typically seen use as mounts in arid regions (camel cavalry). They are better able to traverse sandydeserts than horses, and require far less water. Camels were employed in bothworld wars. Camels are used by theIndian Army andBorder Security Force for patrolling in the desert regions ofRajasthan.

InWorld War II, many military units of the SovietRed Army, sometime after theBattle of Stalingrad, took to usingcamels in the southern theatre of the war in order to transport ammunition, fuel for tanks and aircraft, food, water for kitchens, fuel, and even wounded Red Army soldiers. The use of these animals as means of transport was made necessary by theKalmyksteppes' open terrain, its primitive roads and lack of water, as well as a shortage of adequate auxiliary vehicles in the Soviet armed forces.^[5] A case that became famous was that of theBactrian camel namedKuznechik ("grasshopper") that followed the SovietRed Army in practically all itsadvance towards Germany.

• Mules were used by theU.S. Army, theBritish Army, and theBritish Indian Army duringWorld War II to carry supplies and equipment over difficult terrain.Pack animals that are innately patient, cautious, and hardy, mules could carry heavy loads of supplies whereJeeps and evenpack horses could not travel. Mules were used inNorth Africa,Burma, and inItaly. They are also used for transporting supplies inmountainous regions.

• Oxen have been used widely in war as beasts of burden, especially to transport heavy or siegeartillery through heavy terrain.
• BothSweden and, later, theSoviet Union, attempted to utilizemoose as deep-snow cavalry. Moose were discovered to be unsuitable for warfare, as they easily contracted livestock diseases, were difficult to feed, and fled the battleground. The Soviets later trained moose not to be gun-shy, but were unable to make use of their cavalry because of theSoviet-Finnish War and World War II.^[7]

• TheSumerians used hybriddonkeys to pull their warchariots around 2500 BCE.
• Dogs were used by theancient Greeks for war purposes, and they were undoubtedly used much earlier in history. TheRoman Empire, starting withMarcus Aurelius, also used dogs in combat. The Romans trained theMolossian dog (or Canis Molossus) specifically for battle, often coating them in protective spiked metal collars and mail armour, and arranging them into attack formations.^[8] During their conquest ofLatin America, Spanishconquistadors usedAlaunts to kill warriors in theCaribbean,Mexico andPeru.Mastiffs, as well asGreat Danes, were used in England during the Middle Ages, where their large size was used to scare horses to throw off their riders or to pounce on knights on horseback, disabling them until their master delivered the final blow.
• Ramses II had a petlion which fought with him during theBattle of Kadesh.^[9]
• Pliny the Elder wrote about the use ofpigs against elephants. As he relates it, elephants became scared by the squeal of a pig and would panic, bringing disaster to any soldiers who stood in their path of flight.^[10][11]

• It is unsubstantiated thatrhinoceros were used for war functions. By analyzingAlbrecht Dürer's famous 1515 woodcutDürer's Rhinoceros, it is possible that the liberties taken with the rhino's design^{[clarification needed]} were in fact designs for a suit of armour created for the rhinoceros's fight in Portugal.^[12] However, rhinos' apparently 'thick' or 'plated' skin is actually susceptible and the animals have poor eyesight, heavily limiting their ability to run in a specific direction. Their overly aggressive nature would make them unsuitable for use in mounted combat.
• War elephants were widely used in most parts ofSouth Asia and North Africa, and were also employed by theDiadochi kingdoms, theKingdom of Kush and theRoman Empire. They were usually equipped with armour andtusk swords and carried ahowdah with soldiers and were controlled by amahout. TheKhmer Empire usedballista elephants, war elephants equipped withballista-like weapons.
• Cattle, in some instances, saw use in battle through manmade stampedes of panicking herds that were driven towards the enemy. This was often a dangerous tactic to those that released them, especially following the invention of gunpowder. In both theBattle of Tondibi andHenry Morgan's siege of Panama, herds of cattle were released onto the battlefield, but stampeded back into their own army's lines due to gunfire from the opposing army.
• During theWarring States period of Chinese history,Qi generalTian Dan is said to have had 1,000 oxen dressed and painted like dragons, then their tails lit on fire and sent against the opposingYan army.

• Historical accounts ofincendiary pigs were recorded by the military writerPolyaenus^[13] and by Aelian.^[14] Both writers reported thatAntigonus II Gonatas' siege ofMegara in 266 BC was broken when the Megarians doused some pigs with combustible pitch, crude oil orresin, set them alight, and drove them towards the enemy's massed war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror from the flaming, squealing pigs, often killing great numbers of their own soldiers by trampling them to death.^[15][16]
• According to Pr. Shi Bo, monkeys were used in the beginning of theSouthern Song dynasty, in a battle between rebels of the Yanzhou (Yasuo) province and the Chinese Imperial Army, led byZhao Yu. The monkeys were used as liveincendiary devices. The animals were clothed with straw, dipped in oil and set on fire. They were set loose into the enemy's camp, thereby setting the tents on fire, and driving the whole camp into chaos.^[17]
• In 1267, the sheriff of Essex was accused of plotting to release flyingcockerels carrying bombs over London.^[18]
• Anti-tank dogs – a Soviet, World War II weapon that had mixed success. Canines with explosives strapped to their backs were used as anti-tank weapons.
• Project Pigeon – a proposed U.S. World War II weapon that used pigeons to guide bombs.
• Bat bomb, a U.S. project that usedMexican free-tailed bats to carry small incendiary bombs.
• Animal-borne bombs have been used by modern terrorists and insurgents in theMiddle East, who have affixed explosives to animals, sometimes left wandering alone,^[19] and other times ridden bysuicide bombers, in modern insurgent attacks in theMiddle East.

• Exploding rat – deadrats were prepared for use by the BritishSpecial Operations Executive inWorld War II againstGermany. Rat carcasses were filled withplastic explosives, to be left in locations such as factories where, it was hoped, thestoker tending a boiler would likely dispose of the unpleasant discovery by shoveling it into the furnace, causing it to explode.^[20] The rats contained only a small amount of explosive; however, a puncture of a high-pressure boiler could trigger a devastatingboiler explosion.
• Animals' carcasses have been used to camouflage roadsideimprovised explosive devices during theIraqi insurgency.

• In theBattle of Pelusium (525 BCE) between theAchaemenid Empire andAncient Egypt,Polyaenus claimed that the Achaemenid forces held cats in front of them aspsychological tactic against the Egyptians, whose archers did not shoot for fear of harming what they considered to be sacred animals.
• In theBattle of Ager Falernus (217 BCE),Hannibal Barca had torches attached to the horns of bulls before being set alight during nightfall and allowing them to run amok. TheRomans, believing the torchlight was from fleeingCarthaginian soldiers, pursued the cattle and were caught in an ambush.

Homing pigeons have seen use since medieval times for carrying messages. They were still employed for a similar purpose duringWorld War I andWorld War II. In World War II, experiments were also performed in the use of the pigeon for guiding missiles, known asProject Pigeon. The pigeon was placed inside so that they could see out through a window. They were trained to peck at controls to the left or right, depending on the location of a target shape.

Some dogs also saw use as messengers.

There is a long-standing tradition ofmilitary mascots – animals associated with military units that act as emblems, pets, or take part in ceremonies.

In the years before the First World Warpigeon photography was introduced to military intelligence gathering. Although employed during major battles like at Verdun and Somme, the method was not particularly successful. Various attempts in this direction were made during the Second World War as well. A CIA pigeon camera dating from the 1970s is displayed in theCIA Museum; details of CIA missions using this camera are still classified.^[21] During the Cold War, the CIA began using ravens and crows for surveillance.^[22]

TheAcoustic Kitty was a CIA project to use surgically modifiedcats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies in the 1960s. Despite expenditure of around $10 million, the project failed to produce practical results and was cancelled in 1967. Documents about the project were declassified in 2001.^[23][24]In 2006,The Independent ran a story that the "Pentagon develops brain implants to turn sharks into military spies".^[25][26]

In 2007, Iranian authorities captured 14 squirrels, which were allegedly carrying spying equipment. The story was widely dismissed in the West as "nuts".^[27]

A number of spying scares in the Middle East involved birds. According to Israeli ornithologist Yossi Leshem, Sudanese authorities detained anEgyptian vulture in the late 1970s, and awhite pelican in the early 1980s, both carrying Israeli equipment used foranimal migration tracking. A more mediatized event was the 2011 capture by a Saudi farmer of agriffon vulture, which was eventually released by the Saudi authorities after they determined that the Israeli equipment it carried was used for scientific purposes. This was followed by international mockery and criticism of the Arab media outlets which uncritically had reported on the bird's alleged role in espionage.^[28] In 2012, a deadEuropean bee-eater tagged with an Israelileg band was found by villagers near the south-eastern Turkish city ofGaziantep. The villagers worried that the bird may have carried a micro-chip from Israeli intelligence to spy on the area. Turkish authorities examined the corpse of the bee-eater and assured villagers that it is common to equip migratory birds with rings in order to track their movements.^[29]

Dogs have been used for detecting mines; they were trained to spot trip wires, as well as mines and other booby traps. They were also employed for sentry duty, and to spot snipers or hidden enemy forces.

On land,giant pouched rats such as theGambian giant pouched rat have been tested with considerable success asspecialised mine detecting animals, as their keen sense of smell helps in the identification ofexplosives and their small size prevents them from triggeringland mines.^[30][31]

Chickens were used during the Gulf Wars to detect poisonous gases in an operation called Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC); the designation of theUS Marines for chickens used in this role was Poultry Chemical Confirmation Devices.^[32] The plan was put on hold after 41 of 43 chicken used for such purposes died within a week of arrival inKuwait.^[33]

Beginning during theCold War, research has been done into the uses of many species ofmarine mammals for military purposes. TheU.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program usesmilitary dolphins andsea lions for underwater sentry duty, mine clearance, and object recovery.

Ship's cats were used in theRoyal Navy to controlvermin on board ships. Able seacatSimon ofHMSAmethyst received theDickin Medal.

During theSpanish Civil War (1936–1939),Nationalist pilots attached fragile supplies to liveturkeys, which descended flapping their wings, thus serving as parachutes which could also be eaten by thedefenders of the monastery of Santa Maria de la Cabeza.^[34]

Furthermore, use of militarychickens was proposed in the BritishBlue Peacock project. The scheme involved burying nuclear bombs in the ground for later detonation should occupied (West) Germany be overrun byWarsaw Pact forces. The primitive electronic devices of the 1950s were unreliable in frozen ground, and the chickens were considered as a source of biogenic heat. This story has often been reported as anApril Fool's joke, but when it was declassified and proven to be a true story on 1 April 2004 (April Fool's Day), the head of education and interpretation at theUK National Archives said, "It does seem like an April Fool but it most certainly is not. The Civil Service does not do jokes."^[35]

A secret 1960s CIA project known as ProjectOXYGAS envisioned dolphin saboteurs trained to attach explosive devices to enemy ships.

In 2019,Hvaldimir, abeluga whale found with a Russian harness, which had aGoProcamera mount but no camera, and the words "Equipment St Petersburg" (written in English) may have been trained as a guard whale or a spy.^[36][37]

• Animal–industrial complex
• Animal training
• Biological warfare
  • Entomological warfare
• Cruelty to animals
• Parachuting animals
• Remote control animal
• Brain implant § Research and applications
• Ship's cat

• Blanchard, Lucy M,Chico, The story of a Homing Pigeon in the Great War (Diggory Press),ISBN 978-1-84685-039-4
• Cooper, Jilly (2002).Animals In War.Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press.ISBN 1-58574-729-7.
• Dyer, Walter A.,Ben, the Battle Horse,ISBN 978-1-84685-038-7
• Itoh, Mayumi (2010).Japanese Wartime Zoo Policy: The Silent Victims of World War II. Palgrave-MacMillan.ISBN 978-0230108943.
• Nocella, Anthony J. II, ed. et al., "Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex" (2013, Lexington Books),ISBN 978-0739186510.
• McWilliams, Beverley (2022).The Reindeer and the Submarine.Pantera Press. ISBN 978-0-6489876-9-7.
• McWilliams, Beverley (2023).Spies in the Sky.Pantera Press. ISBN 978-0-6456245-3-3.
• Peters, Anne; de Hemptinne, Jérôme; Kolb, Robert, eds. (2022).Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict. Cambridge University Press.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMilitary animals.

• Cats in the Sea Services
• War Dogs
• Other Animals Who Served
• An Additional “R”: Remembering the Animals (PDF), an article about memorials for animals, including military animals.HTML version, without photos.

• Military animals
• Animals by use

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