Camp as Saliyah, Qatar ? You’ve heard of bomb-sniffing dogs, but mine-sniffing dolphins?

Coalition forces have brought in two specially trained bottle-nosed Atlantic dolphins to help ferret out mines in the approaches of the port of Umm Qasr, Iraq, Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart of the Central Command said Tuesday.

The dolphins will help clear the way for the shipment of humanitarian aid to allied-held southern Iraq, Renuart said.

The dolphins, named Makai and Tacoma, were flown Tuesday night into Umm Qasr by U.S. Navy helicopters and were expected to begin searching for mines today.

U.S. Navy Sgt. Andrew Garrett watches K-Dog, a bottle-nosed dolphin, training near the USS Gunston Hall in the Persian Gulf. Two other specially trained dolphins are in the port of Umm Qasr, Iraq, to help clear mines in shipping lanes so humanitarian relief supplies can get through.

The dolphins are taught to avoid touching the mines, which might cause them to explode, said Capt. Mike Tillotson, a Navy bomb disposal expert. He said there was little risk to animals doing this kind of work.

The biggest hazard could come from other indigenous dolphins in the waters of Umm Qasr. Dolphins are territorial and there is a fear local dolphins might drive the interlopers out, causing them to go AWOL.

The Navy started using marine mammals in the early 1960s, when military researchers began looking into how sea mammals’ highly developed senses — like dolphins’ sonar — could be harnessed to locate mines and do other underwater tasks.

Dolphins were used in the 1970s during the Vietnam War. In the late 1980s, six Navy dolphins patrolled the Bahrain harbor to protect U.S. ships from enemy swimmers and mines and escorted Kuwaiti oil tankers through potentially dangerous waters.