U.S. military considers training bomb-sniffing elephants

(Image credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

published 11 March 2015

Dogs usually take the credit for being bomb-sniffing animals, but elephants could soon give canines a run for their money.

U.S. military researchers in South Africa discovered that elephants can identify explosives using smell. Stephen Lee, head scientist at the U.S. Army Research Office, told The Associated Press that elephants can remember their training for longer than dogs can, so the research could hold promise and potentially save lives. Since bringing elephants to mine fields "wouldn't be practical," the researchers suggested bringing samples from mined areas to the trained elephants, and the animals could identify whether explosives were present, AP reports. Lee also suggested creating an olfactory sensor that was designed based on an elephant trunk.