Wargiraffes, flaming cats, exploding monkeys...

[Innocentius]

No it is not. You are referring to a different myth, but these attempts DID exist.

Err...Exactly what sources do you have to claim that? As far as I know, the line you follow is "If there is no evidence of it, then it is best to assume it doesn't exist/didn't happen". You can't claim that it is true just like that, sorry. I could just as well claim that Edward I of England attempted to train geese for attacking the Welsh at their ankles.

There were however attempts to train mooses to serve as transport animals (for post wagons and such) but theser attempts were abandoned as mooses proved to be untameable.

[Watchman]

I know the local nature mag here mentioned the project. Hey, Car. X was by all accounts a very capable ruler so the man should be allowed a few bold if kooky ideas. Kinda like G. II Adolphus' leather cannon.

I think I remember reading something about Soviet mice trained to eat at German tank wiring.

I remember reading this was the excuse the Germans offered after (presumably rather embarassingly) some big tank fight - the military version of "the dog ate my homework".

Although given what I know of mice and similar rodents I wouldn't put it past them to chew on wires entirely on their own initiative just to see if those are edible (especially if food is getting scarce otherwise for some reason - and the German Eastern Front notoriously had severe supply issues). Pet rabbits, hamsters and such reguarly fry themselves that way too, don't they ? Maybe wires remind them of roots or branches or something and the instincts do the rest.

[Cangrande]

I could just as well claim that Edward I of England attempted to train geese for attacking the Welsh at their ankles.

I thought it was for pinching their bums

[Mailman653]

I heard on this documentry about the American civil war that president Lincoln was offered a pack of war elphants from the king of Siam. Now imagine that.....