Knowledge is power. We have acquired most of our knowledge from the past findings and discoveries of our inquisitive scientists. Some of the most mind-blowing facts about the evolution of life are known to us because some people had the courage to get out there and bring home great wisdom and knowledge. While some of them have been successful, others were nothing more than a learning curve. And history has it that most of the scientific experiments ever performed were the ones that religiously involved animals before actually incorporating any human into it. Be it looking for a cure for any disease or observing behaviors, animal testing has been around for a great period of time.
Here’s our list of the ten most extravagant experiments ever performed on animals!
- Humans and Dolphins- Observing the interspecies intimacy
One of the strangest experiments ever performed on animals is observing interspecies communication between dolphins and humans. John Cunningham, a philosopher published the book named “The mind of the dolphin” in the year 1967. For this renowned work, he even built a communications laboratory and the book describes the nature and mind of dolphins in detail. In this floating living room, one of John’s female assistant spent around six months with a male dolphin. After this while, she was able to teach the creature English. The male dolphin even made an attempt to mate with her.
2. Reviving Dead Bodies- The Lazarus Project
The famous Lazarus Project, which even inspired the filmmakers to direct a movie, is already known to many of us. Robert E. Cornish of the University of California, Berkeley started making progress in the field of restoring the dead during the 1930s. He became obsessed with the idea of reviving dead bodies without actually causing much damage to the organs. After discovering a method to do so, he experimented with it on two dogs (Lazarus 1V and Lazarus V), whom he successfully revived. The project was named “Lazarus’ for being the biblical character whom Christ brought back to life.
3. Monkey Head Transplant
Another bizarre experiment that has gone down in the history of animal experiments is the Monkey Head Transplant. Dr. Robert J. White, a neurosurgeon by profession was named as the first person to successfully perform a head transplant in 1963. He was also a neurological surgery professor who undertook the controversial operation of transplanting one monkey’s head onto another. After this successful operation, the animal was able to see, feel, taste, hear as well as smell everything around it. Moreover, the revived monkey even made an attempt in trying to bite one of the team members. The monkey lived for around a day or two, after finally succumbing to death.
4. Giving Electric Shocks to a Live Puppy
Distasteful in every manner, this particular experiment was undertaken by the researchers in order to study an animal’s behavior to electric shocks. R.G. King and C.L. Sheridan performed this test on a live dog as opposed to their predecessors who carried it out on a human. Before the actual observation, the scientists even claimed it to be a harmless experiment. They were finally successful in recording animal reactions as compared to humans. Also, the findings included a shocking result of women being able to hold the shocks to the highest level.
5. Injecting LSD in Animals- The Elephant Experiment
Ever heard of this one? Ehh… Well, it is no surprise that we, humans are capable of going to any extent in order to get our way. But this weird experiment of injecting LSD in Elephants was totally next level! A group led by Warren Thomas, the director of Lincoln Park Zoo of the Oklahoma City, performed this experiment and left us all in shock. In the year 1962, the scientists emptied a syringe containing 297 milligrams of LSD drug into an Elephant named Tusko. The results? Disgusting. Just after some time of being injected LSD, Tusko kept wandering unusually, until he slumped and finally died.
6. Observing the Sexual Inclinations of Turkeys
Martin Schein and Edgar Hale of the Pennsylvania State University researched observing and deducing the sexual behaviors of Turkeys. It was during the 1960s that the duo performed a series of experiments on these birds. Initially, it was observed that the male turkey was totally attracted to a lifelike model of a female turkey and even made an attempt in mating with it. Later, when the researchers removed some of the female’s body parts including wings, feet, and the tail, its male counterpart began to lose interest really quickly. One of the observations recorded deduced that the female’s head was the most important part that kept the male turkey interested.
7. Creating a Two-Headed Dog
Another strange experiment that victimized dogs is the infamous creation of a two-headed dog during the early twentieth century. Charles Guthrie, the then-budding scientist from the U.S. ended up putting one dog’s head onto the side of another dog’s neck. As unrealistic as it may sound, the test was a success. The world’s first manmade two-headed dog approximately survived for a duration of 26 minutes. Also, it was during the cold war that other researchers and scientists from the Soviet Union performed a similar analysis, following the footsteps of Charles Guthrie.
8. The Jellyfish in Space Experiment
In 1991, several researchers from EVMS (the Eastern Virginia Medical School) in Norfolk, VA undertook the experiment of studying the effects of gravity on future humans if they were to be born in space. The group was led by Dr. Dorothy B. Spangenberg. Using a space shuttle Columbia, approximately 2,478 jellyfish polyps were sent into space along with small bags filled with seawater. As a result, the jellyfish began to rigorously multiply in huge numbers mounting up to around 60,000, all of them just orbiting the earth. After the mission ended, they were bought back to earth.
9. The Bodiless Dog Head
Until now, it’s clear that humans are totally obsessed with performing weird experiments especially, on dogs. Another one of the bizarre animal testings ever undertaken is the one that was carried out on a bodiless dog head. Sergei Brukhonenko, a Soviet physician in 1928, developed an outlandish heart-lung machine called an autojector, which was successful in keeping the bodiless head of a dog alive. The world saw the result of the machine that was showcased at an international scientific conference. Sergei did not stop there. He continued to perform a series of more such experiments.
10. The Dead Cat Experiment
There are a number of diseases we still don’t have a cure for, and in the quest to find more about life, experimentalists have already gone way too far. Karl August Weinhold, a famous German scientist in 1817, performed a cruel experiment in order to make ways with his own hypothesis. He believed that a human brain was nothing distinct from a battery with a thorough nervous system. For this testing, he especially killed a cat and started to fill its body with a special mixture. As a result, when charged with the mixture, the cat began to open its eyes, raise its head, and even began to hop around until it became exhausted.
