Mammal

OCEAN CITY, N.J. -- Commercial fisherman Donny Whiteside considers it a bad omen when he checks his gill nets and finds that species he isn't after - including an occasional harbor porpoise - have become entangled in his gear."

OCEAN CITY, N.J. -- Commercial fisherman Donny Whiteside considers it a bad omen when he checks his gill nets and finds that species he isn't after - including an occasional harbor porpoise - have become entangled in his gear."

Troops in Iraq are getting unprecedented help from the animal kingdom. The Navy has a new detachment of sea lions in the Persian Gulf, ready to hunt and place underwater handcuffs on enemy divers. Trained dolphins, which have seen service since the Vietnam War, are patrolling gulf waters to help clear shipping lanes of mines. On land, Marines are using pigeons as an early warning system to detect chemical weapons. Military officials say the animals are a cost-effective way to save lives and argue that their potential outweighs the minimal danger.

Shiloh, a 13-year-old bottlenose dolphin, made history yesterday when she gave birth to the first dolphin calf at the National Aquarium.The mother went into labor shortly after 8 p.m. and the calf was born by 8:25 p.m., said Chris Andrews, director of animal husbandry. "It came up and took a breath, and it's now cruising around the pool with its mother," he said.It will be several months before the sex of the calf is known, and it will not be named until then. The public will only see the calf on a video monitor for several weeks, Mr. Andrews said.

WHAT is it?It's a mammal that looks like a cross between a dog and a bear, but it's more closely related to a cat. Hyenas played bad guys in the movie "The Lion King."How BIG is it?About the size of a German shepherd.Why is it UNUSUAL?The females are bigger and stronger than the males. In most mammal species, males are bigger and stronger than females.WHAT can it do?It can make a sound like wild laughter if it thinks another hyena is going to bite it. It can sprint as fast as 50 mph and can run all day at slower speeds.

Three more Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were moved late last night into Baltimore's National Aquarium, joining three others that will be displayed in the new $35 million marine mammal pavilion when it opens in December.The three female dolphins -- Hailey, Schooner and Shiloh -- were purchased from Zoovet, a California-based company that supplies dolphins to aquariums, said Vicki Aversa, an aquarium spokeswoman. The dolphins had been living at the Hawk's Cay marine mammal facility in the Florida Keys.

In Baltimore City Pupils to share their book on animal careers at zoo Pupils at Seven Oaks Elementary School in Perry Hall will read their original book about zoo careers to classmates, teachers, parents and employees at the Baltimore Zoo on Wednesday. Four classes of second-graders wrote and illustrated the book, "Jeff and Tracy Talk About Zoo Jobs," as part of a career awareness initiative in which they interviewed zookeepers and staff. They will give copies of the book to members of the zoo's mammal, education, horticulture and hospital care departments.

THUMBS UP Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Co. headquarters, Peterson and Brickbauer and Emery Roth & Sons: 44TC breakthrough effort to reinvigorate the glass box.Japanese sculpture studio for the Maryland Institute, College of Art, RTKL Associates: A serendipitous project that proves architecture can be significant without being permanent.100 HarborView Drive, Columbia Design Collective, Vlastimil Koubek and Sasaki Associates: At last, a decent residential tower for the Inner Harbor.

A helicopter search by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources today failed to spot a whale that had gotten three-quarters of the way up Chesapeake Bay.The whale first was spotted at about 11:30 a.m. yesterday by officers of the DNR and Coast Guard.It was last seen at about 6 p.m. off Rock Hall on the Eastern Shore, said Barbara MacLoud, a DNR spokesman.The search took place from about 8 to 10 a.m. today and covered the bay from Rock Hall south to Kent Island, MacLoud said.Cheryl Messinger, a marine mammal expert at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, said it is unclear whether the 40- to 44-foot whale is in distress or has merely strayed from its oceanic habitat.

KENT NARROWS -- The manatee -- Florida's official state marine mammal -- has turned up in Maryland waters for the first time.The state Department of Natural Resources is asking boaters near the Chester River and Eastern Bay to be on the lookout for, but not to approach, the 7- to 10-foot-long manatee, or "sea cow," sighted several times over the weekend.A large, aquatic creature found primarily in Florida's warm waters, the manatee is an endangered species. It surfaces to breathe and is susceptible to injury from boat hulls and propellers.