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Scent‐Matching Dogs Determine Number of Unique Individuals From Scat
Author(s) -
WASSER SAMUEL K.,
SMITH HEATH,
MADDEN LINDSAY,
MARKS NATHANIEL,
VYNNE CARLY
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the journal of wildlife management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1937-2817
pISSN - 0022-541X
DOI - 10.2193/2008-530
Subject(s) - genotyping , wildlife , matching (statistics) , wildlife conservation , sampling (signal processing) , sample (material) , geography , scale (ratio) , computer science , biology , ecology , cartography , statistics , mathematics , computer vision , genotype , genetics , chemistry , filter (signal processing) , chromatography , gene
Noninvasive scat sampling methods can generate large samples sizes, collected over vast landscapes, ideal for addressing wildlife conservation and management questions. However, the cost of genotyping scat samples limits the accessibility of these techniques. We describe detection‐dog methods for matching large numbers of scat samples to the individual, reducing or eliminating the need for sample genotyping. Three dogs correctly matched 25 out of 28 samples from 6 captive maned wolves ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ) of known identity. Sample scent‐matching can increase overall accessibility and breadth of applications of noninvasive scat‐collection methods to important landscape scale problems in wildlife sciences.