Cost-effective scat-detection dogs: unleashing a powerful new tool for international mammalian conservation biology.

Joseph D Orkin,Xuelong Jiang,Yuming Yang,Douglas W Yu,Chunyan Yang

doi:10.1038/srep34758

Abstract

Recently, detection dogs have been utilized to collect fecal samples from cryptic and rare mammals. Despite the great promise of this technique for conservation biology, its broader application has been limited by the high cost (tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars) and logistical challenges of employing a scat-detection dog team while conducting international, collaborative research. Through an international collaboration of primatologists and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, we trained and used a detection dog to find scat from three species of unhabituated, free-ranging primates, for less than $3,000. We collected 137 non-human primate fecal samples that we confirmed by sequencing taxonomically informative genetic markers. Our detection dog team had a 92% accuracy rate, significantly outperforming our human-only team. Our results demonstrate that detection dogs can locate fecal samples from unhabituated primates with variable diets, locomotion, and grouping patterns, despite challenging field conditions. We provide a model for in-country training, while also building local capacity for conservation and genetic monitoring. Unlike previous efforts, our approach will allow for the wide adoption of scat-detection dogs in international conservation biology.

Highlights

Availability and high price of working with an established detection dog team
The prospect of collaborating with local police in habitat countries to train dogs to locate scat offers a tremendous opportunity to expand the range of both conservation genetics and molecular ecology
By uniting Chinese and American academic field biologists with local Chinese police dog trainers, we demonstrate how scat-detection dogs can be used for conservation and ecology throughout the Global South at low cost

Summary

Introduction

The only such study of primates—a two-month effort to locate scat samples from cross-river gorillas at two sites in Cameroon—cost $98,0007 The prospect of collaborating with local police in habitat countries to train dogs to locate scat offers a tremendous opportunity to expand the range of both conservation genetics and molecular ecology. We contend that sympatric primates allow for an ideal test case for an international collaboration employing a police trained scat-detection dog. We report an international collaboration between Washington University in St. Louis, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to test the effectiveness of a locally trained police detection dog to locate feces for genetic identification from multiple species of endangered, ecologically diverse, unhabituated primates. By uniting Chinese and American academic field biologists with local Chinese police dog trainers, we demonstrate how scat-detection dogs can be used for conservation and ecology throughout the Global South at low cost

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Results

Conclusion