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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Lucy Skoulding

Navy-trained dolphin that can hunt underwater mines caught eating venomous snakes

A Navy-trained dolphin has been caught on video enjoying a meal of venomous sea snakes in a shocking and never-before-seen display.

The US Navy train bottlenose dolphins so they can hunt for underwater mines in the ocean.

A non-profit fitted the dolphins with cameras to watch them go about their lives and hunt.

The video shows the camera attached to the creature as it swims through the dark, murky depths of the sea.

It's not super clear, but viewers can see the dolphin's head, eye and nose as it swims through the dark water.

At one point the dolphin dips above the surface of the water momentarily.

The video shows the camera attached to the creature as it swims through the dark, murky depths of the sea (Getty Images)
The US navy train bottlenose dolphins so they can hunt for underwater mines in the ocean (Getty Images)

The creature is making a calling sound and you can also hear the sound of the water as the dolphin swims through it.

Suddenly the viewer sees the dolphin capture a sea creature with an obvious fin - some kind of fish - in its mouth and eat it.

The dolphins are trained by the US Navy's Marine Mammal Program to find underwater mines, reports CNN.

Suddenly the viewer sees the dolphin capture a sea creature with an obvious fin - some kind of fish - in its mouth and eat it (Getty Images)

But the video goes on to explain that one of the dolphins was spotted tucking into some poisonous sea snakes.

It said: "One of the dolphins was observed eating eight venomous sea snakes, a behaviour never before see in the wild.

"The study authors wanted to learn more about the different feeding techniques of dolphins."

Bottlenose dolphins are not by any means the only animals displaying fascinating behaviour we may never have realised is possible.

One of the dolphins was spotted tucking into some poisonous sea snakes (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A rare and endangered two-headed turtle with four front legs has left experts baffled.

The African spurred tortoise, known as Centrochelys sulcata, is predicted to live a long, healthy life - despite a CT scan revealing one set of internal organs and two heads.

In addition, the tortoise is also listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

This particular tortoise - nicknamed Sorte, or 'Luck' in Portuguese - was hatched on August 1 to a breeder called Ruben van Schoor in Putten, Holland.

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