What do the Eastern spotted skunk, the striped skunk, black bear and long-tailed weasel have in common? They are just four of 117 endangered species in the state of Alabama -- which ranks 3rd in the country behind Hawaii and California for the number of declining animals -- that are difficult to track. But a new program is enlisting dogs to sniff out the scat of endangered species, giving ecologists a better sense of where the elusive animals live, roam and how many individuals in a species may exist.
The program, called EcoDogs, was started by Todd Steury, assistant professor of wildlife ecology at Auburn University. It now includes six dogs, which are each trained to find a specific kind of poop. (They are also taught to ignore poop from animals that the ecologists are not interested in tracking, such as deer, opossum and coyotes.)
Bishop, above, has been trained to sniff out the scent of striped skunk and black bear scat, some of which is donated by zoos or wildlife organizations for training sessions. Other dogs have been trained to find the spotted skunk and weasels. And two dogs are trained to locate an invasive root fungi that is devastating certain pine trees.
Out in the field, the dogs crisscross the edges of a triangular-shaped area trying to find the scent they are trained to locate. They wear GPS collars, which transmits the dog's path to a computer and also allows the handler to keep pace with the dog’s location in the field. In the course of a four-hour work day, a dog can cover up to 12 miles.
Right now, the program is still in the testing phase, but the idea is that once an endangered animal's habitat is located, the ecologists can set up a humane trap, capture the animal and then tag it with a radio transmitter to be tracked for research purposes. Any found scat can be analyze for DNA to pinpoint individuals or families.
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