US Navy Trains Sea Lions To Play as Part of Cognitive Enrichment Exercise for Marine Mammal Program

The US Navy has trained a group of sea lions to play video games. And the marine mammals seem to love it.

Sea Lions Are Trained to Play Games

US Navy's National Marine Mammal Foundation has worked with adorable marine mammals by teaching them to play video games. The games, created as a kind of cognitive enrichment, are more akin to "Snake" than "Call of Duty," so sea lions won't be jumping to esports any time soon, Newsweek reported.

Kelley Winship, a scientist with the National Marine Mammal Foundation and the project's chief investigator, said in a statement that she cares about the animals. Also, she wanted to see them having fun. She added that she loved all the amazing things they would discover in the study.

The U.S. Navy works with over 120 sea lions and dolphins as part of its Marine Mammal Program, established in 1959 to serve as a squad of aquatic sniffer "dogs." The animals are trained to detect explosives and other such hazards underwater and recover missing Navy equipment underwater.

The program has been established in San Diego's Point Loma neighborhood since the 1960s. Enrichment activities, such as open ocean swims and plays, are crucial to their care program since they guarantee the aquatic animal army leads a happy and healthy existence.

Winship and her team created the Enclosure Video Enrichment (EVE) system-a video gaming system suitable for sea lions, as part of the program.

Three California sea lions have been trained to operate the device, moving a cursor around a straightforward virtual maze with their snouts. In a statement outlining the project, Maison Piedfort from the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific said, When the sea lion crosses the finish line, they cheer on him, and his trainer gives him herring as a reward.

There is satisfaction in the animal's eye as he makes eye contact with his trainer, with the latter acknowledging he did a great job. Spike, the sea lion, even made a side-to-side dance and victory yelp before he turned his back to the screen and positioned himself to win the next game.

More About The Marine Mammal Program

Bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions are trained by the Navy's Marine Mammal Program to find, mark, and retrieve things in harbors, along coastlines, and at depths in open waters. They are added to the team to aid sailors and marines in defending against comparable underwater threats.

The animals are taught to find objects in the open sea for the programs. On the ocean below, sea lions find Navy equipment and fasten threats lines to it. Dolphins are taught to look for and mark underwater mines that can endanger the safety of humans on board military or commercial ships. Sea lions and dolphins both aid security officials in spotting and capturing unwanted divers and swimmers who try to harm the members of the Navy, its vessels, and facilities.

Check out more news and information on Tech & Innovation in Science Times.