Napoleon’s monkey: during the Napoleonic Wars, Britain was gripped by fears of an invasion by the French, and much was made of the dangers of French spies and infiltrators. So when a French ship was wrecked in a storm near Hartlepool, on the Channel Coast, locals kept a close watch on the survivors who made it to shore – among them a bedraggled monkey, the ship’s mascot, dressed in a mock uniform. Local bigwigs put the unfortunate animal on trial for spying, and it was executed by hanging from the mast of a fishing boat.
War pigeons: homing pigeons were a key method of communication in the trenches during World War I, before battlefield radios were invented and when telephone cables were often cut by shellfire: during the Battle of the Marne in 1914, 72 pigeon lofts advanced alongside the French troops. A French pigeon named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre for carrying essential messages during the Battle of Verdun – and on his last mission in 1918, despite being shot through the wing, delivered a final dispatch that was credited with saving the lives of 200 soldiers.
Spy dolphins: if dolphins always look like they’re smiling, it may be because they know something you don’t. Dolphins have been recruited by the world’s navies and spy masters for all sorts of sub-sea tasks, including patrolling the waters around US navy ships to watch out for mines or saboteurs. Reports say an elite group of 36 US Navy dolphins has been equipped with toxic dart guns – and that some of the smartest toxic attack dolphins went AWOL with their weapons during Hurricane Katrina.
Anti-bomb bees: the antennae of honey bees can sense pollen in the wind from hundreds of metres away – at concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion, far better any man-made sensor. As a result, selected bugs are now being trained to recognise the smell of bomb ingredients. The bees would be deployed at an airport or train station inside a shoe-box sized scanner, which contains a digital camera to detect when the bees become excited after recognising the smell of plastic explosive, for example.
Secret squirrels: Iran’s police a few years back took 14 squirrels into custody – they were allegedly equipped with eavesdropping devices and were suspected of spying on on behalf of foreign intelligence services. The news reports don’t say if the suspects cracked under questioning – but the idea isn’t as nutty as it sounds. British spy chiefs have confirmed that they recruited a squad of gerbils in the 1970s to sniff out suspected terrorists at airports. (Photo: Keven Law)