title: Cost-effective scat-detection dogs: unleashing a powerful new tool for international mammalian conservation biology.
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.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.|Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.|Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Orkin
authors.affiliation: Kunming Police Dog Training Base, Chinese Ministry of Security, 579 Baiyunlu Kunming, Yunnan, 650204, China.
authors.forename: Yuming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.|School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk NR47TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Douglas W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
authors.forename: Xuelong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D005243:Feces; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D013045:Species Specificity