Dog and handler search for the scat of caribou, moose, and wolves 

 in an area of northeastern Alberta disturbed by tar-sands explora- 

 tion. Boglike habitat permits exploration and research activities 

 only during winter, when the ground freezes. 



way to the whale poop. We can't play fetch on the boat, 

 so we reward Tucker with a bout of tug-of-war with his 

 beloved Kong toy — a rubber and rope thingamabob — as 

 soon as we retrieve the scat. 



Our pilot study gave us the green light: DNA confirmed 

 that all the samples we collected were indeed trom orcas. 

 We found that stress hormones were higher on weekends, 

 when whale-watching peaks, than on weekdays — the first 

 solid evidence that boats are indeed affecting the whales. 

 Thyroid hormone in the scat also tracked the availability of 

 salmon, providing the first measure of nutritional status in 

 orcas. Scat collection continues, providing a data trove that 

 should allow us to sort out how whale watching, food, and 

 toxins — probably in combination — are affecting orcas. 



A NUMBER OF SCIENTISTS have expressed an interest in 

 using scat-detection dogs for their own research, and my 

 colleagues and I have been happy to instruct them in our 

 methods or provide trained dog teams. But to disseminate 

 our techniques widely and to make sure they're done right, 

 the CCB needed to expand. This past spring we complet- 

 ed construction of a state-of-the-art facility with indoor- 

 outdoor kennels for thirty dogs. Housing is available on- 

 site for handlers in training. The facility is ideally situated, 

 on the University of Washington's 4,300-acre Center for 

 Sustainable Forestry in the foothills of Mount Rainier. 



The next frontier is to use dogs to sort out how many 

 individual animals are represented in a given collection 

 of scat. That will reduce the need for DNA analysis — an 

 expensive, lengthy, and occasionally error-prone task. (DNA 

 is often degraded in scat, and related individuals' DNA is 

 quite similar, particularly in endangered, low-diversity 

 wildlife populations.) After two years, we've worked out 

 a technique that engages the collaborative sniffing power 

 of three dogs to identify and match scat from the same 

 individual. Impressively, the dogs beat DNA analysis for 

 precision, paws down. With the new facility complete, 

 we'll soon begin using the technique experimentally. 



Teasing apart the tangle of pressures people are placing 

 on wildlife is a daunting task that grows more urgent with 

 each passing year. By combining the ancient tool of canine 

 olfaction, perfected through millions of years of evolu- 

 tion, with modern genetic and endocrine technologies, 

 my team and I aim to help address some of the world's 

 most critical conservation problems. 



Samuel K. Wasser is Director of the Center 

 for Conservation Biology at the University 

 of Washington in Seattle. In addition to pio- 

 neering methods for extracting hormones and 

 DNA from scat and for using dogs to locate scat 

 samples, he has also developed techniques to 

 acquire DNA from elephant ivory and genetic 

 tools to track the burgeoning illegal ivory trade across Africa. 



Web links related to this article can be found at 



www.naturalhistorymag.com 



October 2008 NATUR.A1 history 



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