DNA Goes to the Tigers

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted August 13, 2007 in DNA in General

From some of my recent posts, you might conclude that I’m an animal lover. And guess what? You’d be wrong! I own no pets – no dog, no cat, no hamster, no fish.

What I find fascinating about animals, however, is that they have DNA. Even more amazing, there’s an entire industry and field dedicated to testing animal DNA. DNA testing is the tool of the moment for nabbing doggy perpetrators to animal poachers.

While databases of DNA from criminals and assorted random people are the subject of contentious debate in New York State and Great Britain, a DNA database for tigers called the American Tiger Registry is also being proposed. Brian Werner of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation wants to use DNA testing to separate purebred tigers in captivity from those that are mixed. The plan is to develop breeding programs that “preserve the purity of the tiger subspecies.”

Another endangered species, the cougar, is under scrutiny in Michigan. Scientists are claiming that DNA “distilled” from cougar scat* proves that the wild cat can be found in Michigan. But objections soon arose that the DNA analysis was based on only 10 scat specimens.

Biologist Dave Hamilton:

It’s as if the scats fell out of the Michigan sky. Field collection methods are not described (by Brad Swanson and Patrick Rusz), they could not be replicated, and there is no reliable chain of custody described. Where is the rest of the evidence that supports the claim that free-ranging cougars exist in many areas of Michigan?

The last time I heard “chain of custody” was in relation to paternity tests. This stuff is serious! But not so serious that you can’t make your own edible wildlife scat.

* Part 2 of the Michigan Outdoor News report on using DNA evidence in cougar research.

Tags: cougars, tiger, dna, genetics, genes, wildlife, endangered species, animals, scat

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