23/07/2007
Fauna & Flora International is using DNA fingerprinting to monitor elephant populations in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. The DNA will be extracted from elephant dung collected by field biologists and trackers.
Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains include a virtually undisturbed forest core that stretches over 10,000 square kilometers. Field biologists can spend weeks searching for elephants to record the vital data needed to properly monitor elephant populations. DNA analysis can yield this vital information much more quickly and efficiently.
Estimating the size of elephant populations in Cambodia is extremely difficult due to their habits and the size of their habitat. They are also extremely secretive: “It is incredible how these immense creatures are like silent ghosts in dense forest,” says Joe Heffernan, Fauna & Flora International’s elephant biologist in Cambodia. “They can pass within metres and not be heard.”
In addition to the difficulties of observing elephants in the wild, their tracks and feeding signs can only reveal so much. DNA from their dung, however, can reveal the age, sex and health of the individual that produced it. Because each fingerprint is unique, the size of the population can be estimated much more accurately.
The information will be used to refine long-term elephant management strategies and identify future protected areas. The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) also plans to use the data to monitor illegal elephant killing and forecast trends.
Cambodia is critical to Asian elephant conservation, but work is hampered by the scarcity of field data. Fauna & Flora International is leading surveys of remote forest areas and working with the Cambodian Wildlife Protection Office and Ministry of the Environment to ensure that these elephant strongholds are protected.
Fauna & Flora International is also working with communities within the Cardamoms to understand their needs so that they do not harm elephants that stray close to their villages.
In addition to surveying and livelihood planning our elephant work also has an applied research and awareness-raising project in eastern Cambodia that gathers essential data on habitat requirements and home range sizes to augment the country-wide elephant conservation strategy.
To find out more about how the DNA is being extracted, please visit DNA Solutions website.
Contact us
To find out more about this news item, please contact:
Chris Loades at chris.loades@fauna-flora.org or call +44 (0)1223 579421.
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