Samrat Mondol, N Samba Kumar, Arjun Gopalaswamy, Kartik Sunagar, K Ullas Karanth and Uma Ramakrishnan gathered scat samples of some 300 carnivores across 20,000 sq.km span from within the state of Karnataka. These samples were subjected to the genetic studies that went on to achieve the way to assign identities and gender to the individuals.
This process has till now helped identify 78 females and 56 male leopards and also 13 females and five male tigers. "While species identification using genetic tools has been done in the past, the approach we have developed for tigers and leopards is the first of its kind," Samba Kumar, Additional Director - Science and Conservation, WCS told IBTimes UK.
This ingenious method can now be used on a range of other species for similar identification purposes, which earlier were difficult to identify just by their physical appearances.
Source: Wildlife Conservation:Scat Used to Identify Tigers and Leopards in Genetic Breakthrough.
