LISTEN: University of Iowa Professor Talks History of Parachuting Animals

The Absurd History Of Parachuting Animals

Today we learned that since about 1943, we've been parachuting animals from planes for different reasons. Whether it's for wildlife management or for scientific research.

It was in 1948 that scientists removed 8 crates of beavers from a beaver infested area and flew over the Chamberlain Basin to relocate them. Only one perished, but the rest created a new colony in their new environment.

They also used a bear to test the effects of supersonic speed on the body by launching one out of a Hustler's fuselage at an altitude of 35,000 feet while traveling at MACH TWO speed. After an almost eight-minute descent, the pod touched land. The bear was fine.

Read more over at Atlas Obscura

Professor O'Shaughnessy Talks Parachuting Animals

It turns out that the world's foremost mind on this topic is none other than University of Iowa professor Patrick O’Shaughnessy, who talked with us about the history of parachuting animals.

Dogs are used in the military to assist soldiers - even when they parachute in.

Project Pigeon

Project Pigeon was a plan to use trained pigeons to guide glide bombs - and it worked. The only thing was, it didn't get used in the field because of the impracticality of training pigeons to control the direction of the bombs.