Navy Swapping out Dolphins for Robots

Adorable sea mammals will no longer be trained to detect mines

The San Diego-based Navy Marine Mammal Program is making news. The program's dolphins—trained to detect mines and other underwater explosives—are going to be replaced by machines who do the same job, but don't need seven years to be trained.

Beginning in 2017, robots will replace the mine-hunting duties of 24 of the 80 dolphins in the Navy Marine Mammal Program.