Forget James Bond and his high-tech gadgets – the history of global espionage is more like a zoo. For decades, the world's most powerful intelligence agencies have quietly turned to the animal kingdom for top-secret missions.
From Cold War to Modern Standoffs
Military masterminds have tried turning household pets and wild predators into covert operatives. Some were equipped with microphones and hidden cameras, while others were mechanical lookalikes built to blend into enemy territory. However, when secret agents have minds of their own, things rarely go to plan.
Pigeons and Ravens
In the 1970s, the CIA trained ravens to drop listening devices on Soviet window ledges and carry cameras in their beaks. Their best candidate, Do Da, was killed by other birds. A similar project with a cockatoo also failed. During both World Wars and the Cold War, the Allies strapped cameras to pigeons to photograph targets and return. In World War Two, spies used pigeons to send intelligence from behind enemy lines about German V1 rocket sites.
In 2011, Saudi Arabia detained a griffon vulture for "spying," claiming it carried an Israeli GPS transmitter. Israel said it was part of a bird movement study.
Squirrels and Gerbils
In 2007, Iran arrested 14 "spy squirrels" apparently equipped with recording devices near a nuclear plant. In 2018, they accused the US of spying with chameleons and lizards. MI5 trained gerbils to sniff out spies at airports by detecting adrenaline in sweat, but they couldn't distinguish between agents and nervous passengers. CIA agents once used hollowed-out rats as "dead drops" for hiding places.
Dogs in War
During World War One, dogs carried messages through trenches. One named Satan wore a gas mask and dodged German bullets to deliver a message to troops at Verdun.
Fishy Spies
In 2019, a beluga whale appeared off Norway wearing a Russian harness, dubbed a spy. The CIA experimented with dolphins to collect sounds of nuclear submarines. In the 1990s, they invented Charlie, a radio-controlled robotic catfish with a microphone to spy on enemy craft.
Acoustic Kitty and Insectothopter
The CIA wired a cat with a microphone to spy on the Soviet embassy in Washington DC in the 1960s. The cat, used in Operation Acoustic Kitty, was run over by a taxi on its first mission, and the project was scrapped. In 1974, the US developed the Insectothopter, a dragonfly-style drone with a tiny microphone in its head, able to travel 650 feet for 60 seconds via remote control.
Historical Oddities
During the Napoleonic Wars, a French ship sank off Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey. Legend says locals tried and hanged it as a spy.
