Researchers have developed a noninvasive DNA tool to help monitor hard-to-trace African carnivores, including caracals and leopards, making it potentially useful in the conservation of elusive and increasingly threatened species.
“Carnivores are really difficult to study/observe in the wild, and even if a fecal sample is found, it is often difficult to determine which species it comes from,” Anne Schmidt-Küntzel, a co-author of a new study detailing the tool, and director of animal health and research at the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), told Mongabay in an email.
Researchers analyzed DNA material in fecal samples from wild carnivores in Southern Africa to identify a specific genetic marker, called a “mini-barcode,” that can be used to determine the species it came from.
“Using the marker allows us to find out which species was present in the study area,” Schmidt-Küntzel added.
The researchers collected 157 samples to analyze, and compared their results with known data collected in Namibia 13 years earlier. They were able to successfully identify the carnivores nearly 95% of the time, finding six different species, including leopards (Panthera pardus) and caracals (Caracal caracal). The researchers suggest the marker could also be a useful monitoring tool for lions (Panthera leo), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), servals (Leptailurus serval) and African golden cats (Caracal aurata).
“We have created a guide that allows researchers to predict how well the marker will perform in their study area and with their species of interest, and thus improve their chance of success in carnivore monitoring,” Schmidt-Küntzel said.
The researchers also used the tool to obtain mitochondrial DNA sequencing data for the Congo clawless otter (Aonyx congicus), which they uploaded to GenBank, a U.S.-funded research database. That means other researchers can now access genetic information about the large, rare species of otter for the first time.
Philip Muruthi, vice president of species conservation and science at the Kenya-based African Wildlife Foundation, who wasn’t involved with the study, said this type of DNA analysis is an important tool for monitoring presence of species, especially elusive ones.
“The DNA can be obtained directly from the animal or from the environment (hair, scat, etc.) which means you get to know the animal’s presence even if you did not see the actual individual,” Murithi told Mongabay.
He added it could potentially help “prioritize interventions to secure the species, their habitat and to manage their interactions with people.”
Schmidt-Küntzel said the research can serve as a “guide that other researchers in Africa can use to see how well the marker will work for them in their jurisdiction, as well as provided new reference sequences for understudied African carnivore species.”
Banner image of a leopard in South Africa’s Kruger National Park by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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