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Trained bat bombs

Just like WWII - train bats to deliver bombs
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I know this has been tried before, but surely bat training technology has advanced since WWII...? Maybe we can get terrorists hiding in caves by sending in bats with bombs. Or use some other animal that is attracted to caves....
mhh5, Nov 09 2001

Dogs, birds, foxes with fire/explosives http://www.urbanleg...s/dog_dynamite.html
Brief account of some true stories and legends. [pottedstu, May 08 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]


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       As long as the bats can deliver the bombs then retreat to a safe distance, I have no problem with this, but I'm not up for any kamikaze-type bats.
angel, Nov 09 2001
  

       How much explosive could a bat carry? Might be better to send in bigger cave-dwelling animals like bears.
pottedstu, Nov 09 2001
  

       I'd suggest using cattle, but that'd be abominable.
phoenix, Nov 09 2001
  

       "Oh Geroge, not the livestock."
barnzenen, Nov 09 2001
  

       You have to admit that - mission accomplished - the steer would be considered noble.
phoenix, Nov 09 2001
  

       pottedstu: The problem with bears carrying in explosives is that bears are probably harder to raise and train. Also remember that although a single bat may not be able to carry much explosive power, lots of bats in a swarm might be able to do some damage.... angel: sorry, but I prefer using kamikaze bats over kamikaze people. Otherwise we could just stoop to terrorist tactics....
mhh5, Nov 11 2001
  

       The bats didn't carry explosives, they carried incendiary devices to start fires.   

       In any case, this was torched sixty years ago.
StarChaser, Nov 11 2001
  

       [Advance apologies for immoral idea] Why not train Vampire Bats to bite people. They could easily transmit biological agents and/or disease. I reckon they'd scare the sh*t out of everyone in the process as well.
brewmaster, Apr 19 2002
  

       Kamikaze pig*eons. Now there's an idea.
calum, Apr 19 2002
  

       I don't know about bats, but I once saw some footage of the people (Keller and Marian Breland) who trained pigeons during WWII to recognize an aerial view of a specific site. They were placed in little cages on the underside of a missile, with a button to peck when they saw that precise site. The missile would detonate when the pigeon pecked the button. Don't we have computer guidance for this sort of thing now?
magrak, Apr 23 2002
  

       Humans are the most universally despised species.
hands, May 07 2002
  

       Is that so? Do you have any stats to assert that point? I know we're not popular on Zeta Reticuli but I didn't reali(s)ze things were so grim as that.   

       This bat bomb thing just got possible using robo-rat technology.
waugsqueke, May 08 2002
  

       Probably we'd end up with the same problem as the Russians who tried to train dogs to run under tanks in world war 2, with the intention of strapping explosives to them and setting them out against German tanks. Problem was, the dogs had been trained under diesel Russian tanks which smelt very different to petrol/gasoline-powered German tanks, and therefore they ran under the wrong tanks.   

       I also found in the same webpage (see link) a biblical reference to Samson setting fire to foxes' tails and letting them run into his enemies' fields.
pottedstu, May 08 2002
  

       These bat bombs were very effective weapons. They were not trained bats and were microchiroptera (true bats) and not likeing day light they hid under the thatched roofs in Japan. When the ignited incindiary heated up the bats cling to the roof, causing ignition. There then occurs a firestorm killing tens of thousands of people. The bat bomb was a secret weapon. It was stoped after an accident in Texas where the bats got lose and were loaded. The accident burned the base down completely. Do you're fuckin home work, you guys are funny but you make me curse and I don't like it. The other bomb beasts are for other applications. The peigeons were used in threes where at least two could guide the pecking direction. These pigeons were trained by Skinner, and the military people were amused by the demonstration. They did not realize how well pigeons can see etc. Pigeons were used years later to spot life rafts at sea, as their eyes have better resolution and blue blocking I believe. Pigeons were for guided bombs or missles I forget.Oh, do not mistake the RADAR guided bomb also called Bat bomb(likened to SONAR)
emconsulting, Dec 28 2003
  

       For some reason this isn't on his wiki, but batbombs were a Bing Crosby invention, which were set aside in favour of his other 1945 international showstoppers, the casings for Little Boy and Fat Man.
notripe, May 10 2019
  


 

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