Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada

We report the development and application of a method using domestic dogs (Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) to systematically locate wildlife scat over large remote areas. Detection dogs are chosen for their strong object orientation, high play drive, and willingness to strive for a reward. Dogs wer...

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Published in:Canadian Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Wasser, Samuel K, Davenport, Barbara, Ramage, Elizabeth R, Hunt, Kathleen E, Parker, Margaret, Clarke, Christine, Stenhouse, Gordon
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z04-020
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z04-020
id crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z04-020
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spelling crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z04-020 2024-09-15T18:40:14+00:00 Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada Wasser, Samuel K Davenport, Barbara Ramage, Elizabeth R Hunt, Kathleen E Parker, Margaret Clarke, Christine Stenhouse, Gordon 2004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z04-020 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z04-020 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 82, issue 3, page 475-492 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2004 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z04-020 2024-09-05T04:11:15Z We report the development and application of a method using domestic dogs (Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) to systematically locate wildlife scat over large remote areas. Detection dogs are chosen for their strong object orientation, high play drive, and willingness to strive for a reward. Dogs were trained to detect grizzly bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) and black bear (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) scats over a 5200-km 2 area of the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada. DNA from scat provided the species and (for grizzly bears only) sex and individual identities of the animal at each location. Concentrations of fecal cortisol and progesterone metabolites from these same grizzly bear scats provided indices of physiological stress and reproductive activity (in females), respectively. Black and grizzly bears were most concentrated in the northern portion of the multiuse study area, where food is most abundant yet poaching-related mortality appears to be heaviest. Physiologic stress was also lowest and female reproductive activity correspondingly highest for grizzly bears in the north. The scat-based distributions corresponded to concurrently collected hair-snag data in 1999 and global positioning system radiotelemetry data (of grizzly bears) in 1999 and 2001. Results suggest that the scat dog detection methodology provides a promising tool for addressing a variety of management and research questions in the wildlife sciences. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 82 3 475 492
institution Open Polar
collection Canadian Science Publishing
op_collection_id crcansciencepubl
language English
description We report the development and application of a method using domestic dogs (Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) to systematically locate wildlife scat over large remote areas. Detection dogs are chosen for their strong object orientation, high play drive, and willingness to strive for a reward. Dogs were trained to detect grizzly bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) and black bear (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) scats over a 5200-km 2 area of the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada. DNA from scat provided the species and (for grizzly bears only) sex and individual identities of the animal at each location. Concentrations of fecal cortisol and progesterone metabolites from these same grizzly bear scats provided indices of physiological stress and reproductive activity (in females), respectively. Black and grizzly bears were most concentrated in the northern portion of the multiuse study area, where food is most abundant yet poaching-related mortality appears to be heaviest. Physiologic stress was also lowest and female reproductive activity correspondingly highest for grizzly bears in the north. The scat-based distributions corresponded to concurrently collected hair-snag data in 1999 and global positioning system radiotelemetry data (of grizzly bears) in 1999 and 2001. Results suggest that the scat dog detection methodology provides a promising tool for addressing a variety of management and research questions in the wildlife sciences.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Wasser, Samuel K
Davenport, Barbara
Ramage, Elizabeth R
Hunt, Kathleen E
Parker, Margaret
Clarke, Christine
Stenhouse, Gordon
spellingShingle Wasser, Samuel K
Davenport, Barbara
Ramage, Elizabeth R
Hunt, Kathleen E
Parker, Margaret
Clarke, Christine
Stenhouse, Gordon
Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada
author_facet Wasser, Samuel K
Davenport, Barbara
Ramage, Elizabeth R
Hunt, Kathleen E
Parker, Margaret
Clarke, Christine
Stenhouse, Gordon
author_sort Wasser, Samuel K
title Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada
title_short Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada
title_full Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada
title_fullStr Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada
title_full_unstemmed Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada
title_sort scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the yellowhead ecosystem, alberta, canada
publisher Canadian Science Publishing
publishDate 2004
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z04-020
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z04-020
genre Ursus arctos
genre_facet Ursus arctos
op_source Canadian Journal of Zoology
volume 82, issue 3, page 475-492
ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283
op_rights http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1139/z04-020
container_title Canadian Journal of Zoology
container_volume 82
container_issue 3
container_start_page 475
op_container_end_page 492
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