MOSCOW TIMES (Russia) 10 November 05 Turning Turtles Into Troops
A Rostov-on-Don scientist is offering to train tortoises for defense purposes, NTV television reported Wednesday.
Alexei Burikov, head of the biology department at Rostov-on-Don State Pedagogical University, told the channel that he had built special devices that attach to a tortoise's shell and vibrate, allowing a person to control the animal's movements.
Burikov said a small camera could also be fixed to the shell, allowing the controller to watch what is happening around the tortoise. "Monitoring could be conducted for both environmental and defense purposes," he said.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/11/10/031.html

ANANOVA (London, UK) 10 November 05 Scientist invents remote-controlled turtles
A Russian scientist claims to have created remote controlled turtles for spying missions.
Alexei Burikov, head of the biology department at Rostov-on-Don State Pedagogical University, said a human controller could direct the turtles through devices fitted to their shells.
The device sent vibrations through the shell to the turtle which could be trained to change direction.
The scientist added that a tiny camera fixed to the turtle's shell could relay reconnaissance pictures of an area to a command and control centre.
Mr Burikov said turtles could be used to perform a whole range of dangerous operations, from placing bombs in an enemy HQ to depositing high tech recording devices.
But the invention could be used for non-military purposes as well, he told Russian media.
"Monitoring could be conducted for both environmental and defence purposes," he said.
Turtles could be used to observe other wildlife in a way that no human would ever be able to do, he added.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1606750.html

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• RUS Press: Turning Turtles Into Troops - W von Papineäu, Fri Nov 11 20:11:37 2005