FURRY WORKERS

From War Elephants to Medical Dogs: 10 Weird Jobs We Gave To Animals

Image: Patrick Hendry

Throughout history, animals have played crucial roles that extend far beyond companionship or sustenance. From aiding in transportation to performing specialized tasks, their contributions have been diverse yet always essential.

Here, we explore 10 fascinating jobs that animals have undertaken across different time periods, proof of their remarkable intelligence and adaptability!

Image: Artem Beliaikin

In medieval Europe, a unique breed of dogs known as 'turnspit dogs' were employed in kitchens to rotate roasting meat spits. Bred for their stamina and size, these dogs were crucial for keeping the spit turning for hours at a time.

Sadly, their breed is now extinct, leaving us to reconstruct their appearance solely from historical documents.

Image: Ali Pli

Dating back to ancient times, pigeons were used as messengers due to their exceptional homing instincts. These birds excel at navigating over extremely long distances, thanks to their ability to perceive the Earth's magnetic field, just like an inner compass.

Particularly, due to their unique skills, these fluffy animals played crucial roles in wartime communication, delivering urgent messages across long distances when other means of communication were impractical or insecure.

Image: Richard Jacobs

What animal could instill more fear on the battlefield than an enraged elephant? To make matters worse, steel blades were often fastened to their tusks, and specialized archers would relentlessly pick off infantry units from their backs.

Elephants were formidable weapons of war in ancient civilizations such as India and Persia. Their immense size and strength made them highly effective in breaking enemy lines and demoralizing opposing armies.

Image: Mike Doherty

In the port town of Eden, New South Wales, Australia, killer whales (also known as orcas) formed an unlikely but effective partnership with human whalers during the heyday of the country's whaling industry. From the 1840s through to the 1930s, pods of orcas were observed working together with whalers in a unique and mutually beneficial hunting arrangement.

These intelligent marine mammals assisted whalers by herding humpback whales, effectively corralling them and making them easier targets for human hunters. In return for their cooperation, the whalers honored a (clearly unspoken) agreement where the orcas were allowed the first bite at the carcass once the hunt was successful.

Image: Martin Adams

How do you stop local populations of birds from colliding with arriving and departing planes at airports? By employing other birds! Trained birds of prey, such as hawks and falcons, are often used at airports to prevent bird strikes, which can lead to serious accidents and cost the industry millions of dollars annually.

These predatory birds naturally intimidate other species as they patrol the skies, discouraging other birds from entering the airspace around runways, thus minimizing the risk of collisions with aircraft.

Image: Bianca Ackermann

Beyond their crucial role in pollination, honey bees have found an unexpected application in the field of demining, particularly in war-torn regions where landmines pose significant threats. Due to their remarkable sense of smell, bees are trained to detect the scent of explosives buried underground.

In this innovative process, trained bees are incentivized with sugar water as a reward when they successfully locate the scent of explosives. This method allows demining teams to pinpoint potentially dangerous areas more safely and efficiently than traditional methods, minimizing risks to human deminers.

Image: TJ Fitzsimmons

In various military and research capacities, dolphins have been trained and utilized as "spies" due to their exceptional intelligence and underwater capabilities. These marine mammals have been employed by navies for tasks such as locating underwater mines, retrieving lost equipment, and even acting as sentries to protect naval bases.

Their natural echolocation abilities make them ideal for the task, and their agility and speed underwater allow them to maneuver swiftly in challenging environments where human divers would struggle.

Image: Justin Veenema

Trained dogs are now employed in medical settings to detect various diseases such as cancer and diabetes by sniffing out specific biomarkers present in patients' bodily fluids or breath. Their accuracy in early detection can significantly improve treatment outcomes and save lives.

These specially trained dogs undergo rigorous training programs where they learn to differentiate between scents associated with different medical conditions. Beyond their diagnostic role, they also provide loving comfort to those who are sick or grieving, and the therapeutic benefits of their presence in healthcare settings are proven.

Image: Nick Fewings

Geese have a long history of serving as effective guards, dating back to ancient civilizations where they were employed as vigilant "watchdogs" (avoid using this term near actual geese or they might get offended). Known for their loud honking and keen sense of alertness, geese were kept in temple courtyards, estates, and farms to alert their owners to the presence of intruders.

Today, geese continue to play a role in security, particularly at airfields and military installations. Their sharp eyesight and loud calls make them excellent sentinels capable of detecting and alarming personnel to potential threats.

Image: BAILEY MAHON

In environmentally conscious communities, goats are employed as eco-friendly lawnmowers. These voracious grazers efficiently clear overgrown vegetation without the noise and pollution associated with mechanical equipment. Goat herds provide a sustainable alternative for maintaining green spaces.

Beyond their practical utility, goats provide additional benefits such as natural fertilizer through their droppings, enriching soil health, and promoting plant growth.

BUSTING MYTHS

10 Weird Ancient Beliefs That Were Debunked By Modern Science

Image: National Cancer Institute

Trying to understand why things happen is part of what makes us human. But in the process, we sometimes end up arriving at very strange—and very wrong—conclusions. Luckily, as science advances, many of these once-held truths have been debunked. From ancient myths to modern misconceptions, here are 10 bizarre beliefs that have been shattered by the power of scientific inquiry.

Image: Matt Seymour

For centuries, people believed that living organisms could arise spontaneously from non-living matter. This gave rise to some strange ideas—like mice and other pests being generated seasonally from river mud, fleas emerging from dust, and even fully formed geese sprouting from barnacles! However, Louis Pasteur’s experiments in the 19th century definitively debunked this erroneous notion, proving that life arises only from preexisting life.

Image: Hush Naidoo Jade Photography

As unbelievable as it sounds, for centuries, the pinnacle of medical science involved making an already ill patient bleed nearly a gallon of blood, for his own good (sigh). The practice, known as bloodletting, was based on the belief that it helped balance the body's four "humors" and could cure a variety of ailments. Obviously, it did far more harm than good. But to be fair, if you survived that, you could probably endure anything life threw at you.

Image: Jon Tyson

Before the germ theory of disease, people believed that illnesses were caused by foul odors, or "miasmas," emanating from decaying matter. They weren’t entirely off course, though—foul smells can indeed signal intense microbial activity, and the poor living conditions and lack of sanitation in early modern cities were often linked to spikes in epidemics and infections. However, scientific advancements in microbiology eventually revealed that diseases are primarily caused by microorganisms, not just bad air.

Image: Jingming Pan

This is one of those cases where wanting something to be real badly enough can make you believe it actually is. And who wouldn’t want a formula for turning junk into solid gold? Ancient alchemists sought to transmute base metals into gold using a mysterious substance known as the "philosopher’s stone." However, after centuries of failed attempts, most of the beliefs held by the alchemists were debunked by a more scientific understanding of chemical reactions, paving the way for modern chemistry.

Image: Jongsun Lee

Ancient civilizations often viewed solar and lunar eclipses as omens of misfortune or signs of divine punishment from their gods. From the Ancient Greeks to the Aztecs, sacrifices and rituals of appeasement were performed to ward off the worst of the gods’ wrath. However, as humanity's understanding of celestial mechanics improved—and as accurate methods for predicting eclipses were developed—these ancient superstitions gradually faded.

Image: Jesper Aggergaard

When ancient people encountered fossils that didn’t resemble any living creatures of their time, they had to come up with explanations. But since the processes behind evolution hadn’t been discovered yet—and the age of the Earth was still widely debated—they believed the remains belonged to mythical beings such as fire-breathing dragons, centaurs, cyclopes, and other legendary monsters.

Image: Nsey Benajah

Tales of mermaids—half-human, half-fish beings—have captivated sailors for centuries. For a long time, rugged explorers of the seas reported encounters with these fantastical creatures, though no evidence of their existence ever surfaced. Today, it’s believed that such sightings may have been inspired by encounters with manatees or dugongs—aquatic mammals whose gentle, flowing movements could easily spark the imagination. Now, how drunk would you have to be to mistake a manatee for a beautiful mermaid? Let’s just leave it at that.

Image: Justin Wolff

Comets have always been awe-inspiring phenomena, but in the past, they also often triggered panic and bizarre beliefs. During the 1910 approach of Halley’s Comet, the first spectroscopic analysis of its tail led to widespread hysteria when it revealed the presence of the toxic gas cyanogen. A misquotation of famed astronomer Camille Flammarion—claiming the gas "would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet"—was widely circulated in the press. Soon, people around the world were panic-buying gas masks and all sorts of quack products in a desperate attempt to save themselves.

Image: Clark Young

In the 19th century, settlers moving westward in the United States were lured by the belief that cultivating the land would increase rainfall in arid regions—a long-debunked notion known as "rain follows the plow." The idea gained traction as farmers noticed that rainfall often coincided with their cultivation efforts. However, thorough scientific research has since disproved this myth, attributing any perceived increase in precipitation to natural climate variability rather than human activity.

Image: freestocks

The long-discredited medical theory of "maternal impression" suggested that a pregnant woman's thoughts, emotions, or experiences could influence the physical appearance or characteristics of her unborn child. This belief was widespread in various cultures throughout history and often led to practices such as avoiding certain foods or activities during pregnancy. However, with the development of modern genetic theory, this notion was firmly refuted.