Abstract
The use of detector dogs has been demonstrated to be effective and safe for finding Mojave desert tortoises and provides certain advantages over humans in field surveys. Unlike humans who rely on visual cues for target identification, dogs use primarily olfactory cues and can therefore locate targets that are not visually obvious. One of the key benefits of surveying with dogs is their efficiency at covering ground and their ability to detect targets from long distances. Dogs may investigate potential targets using visual cues but confirm the presence of a target based on scent. Everything that emits odor does so via vapor-phase molecules and the components comprising a particular scent are carried primarily though bulk movement of the atmosphere. It is the ability to search for target odor and then go to its source that makes dogs ideal for rapid target recognition in the field setting. Using tortoises as targets, we quantified distances that dogs detected tortoise scent, followed it to source, and correctly identified tortoises as targets. Detection distance data were collected during experimental trials with advanced global positioning system (GPS) technology and then analyzed using geographic information system (GIS) modeling techniques. Detection distances ranged from 0.5 m to 62.8 m for tortoises on the surface. We did not observe bias with tortoise size, age class, sex or the degree to which tortoises were handled prior to being found by the dogs. The methodology we developed to quantify olfaction-based detection distance using dogs can be applied to other targets that dogs are trained to find.
Highlights
Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) occur throughout the Mojave Desert; populations north and west of the Colorado River are listed as ‘threatened’ under the U.S Endangered Species Act because they are in decline ([1], [2])
The methodology we developed to quantify olfaction-based detection distance using dogs can be applied to other targets that dogs are trained to find
Dogs were shown to generalize to live Mojave desert tortoises when initially trained on a discrete set of tortoise residual scent training aids
Summary
Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) occur throughout the Mojave Desert; populations north and west of the Colorado River are listed as ‘threatened’ under the U.S Endangered Species Act because they are in decline ([1], [2]). Dogs have been shown to be able to differentiate at least 10 different compounds without degradation in performance and become more efficient as new target compounds are learned [15]. Just how they are able to do this remains unknown and how to optimize their performance with search and deployment strategies is likewise unknown. Dogs can generalize; that is, they can learn to identify a discrete set of individuals within a target class and detect in the field new individuals they have never before encountered. Artificial noses are not a viable tool for conducting wildlife searches because they cannot meet these criteria, whereas dogs do
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