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Wildlife tracking to fill gaps in monarch migration research
Confirmed
In Short: The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) has been advancing wildlife conservation science since 1975, applying technology and research in animal behavior, reproduction, ecology, genomics, migration, and conservation sustainability.
Hayden Leigh, a forensic science graduate at the University of Staffordshire, is using hair from Boris the bear, a 120-year-old museum exhibit at the Museum of Chelmsford in Essex, to develop new methods for wildlife crime investigations.
Leigh's research aims to create a more cost-effective and reliable alternative to DNA analysis, which could help in tackling illegal poaching and trafficking of wildlife.
The cat, later identified as a jaguar, was taken to the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary on the subtropical flank of the Bolivian Andes.
SCBI's work includes supporting animal conservation and wildlife research, emphasizing the urgent challenges facing wildlife today.
What this adds
The research by Leigh could potentially expand the scope of wildlife crime investigations beyond domestic animals.
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's efforts highlight the broader impact of scientific research in wildlife conservation.
What's confirmed
- Hayden Leigh, a forensic science graduate at the University of Staffordshire, is using hair from Boris the bear, a 120-year-old museum exhibit at the Museum of Chelmsford in Essex, to develop new methods for wildlife crime investigations.
- Leigh's research aims to create a more cost-effective and reliable alternative to DNA analysis, which could help in tackling illegal poaching and trafficking of wildlife.
- The cat, later identified as a jaguar, was taken to the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary on the subtropical flank of the Bolivian Andes.
- SCBI's work includes supporting animal conservation and wildlife research, emphasizing the urgent challenges facing wildlife today.
What's still developing
- "There's been hundreds of studies done on dog hairs and cat hairs and general domestic animals, and I thought, well, let's make a wider impact than on the wider wildlife crime investigations," he said.
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- In 2017, Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a biologist and National Geographic Explorer working in Bolivia, received a call from a local wildlife sanctuary that had just been given what they described as “a weird cat.” It came from a local man who found it as a kitten on a road near a forest.
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- (Roshan Patel, Smithsonian) Since 1975, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) has been at the forefront of advancing the science of wildlife conservation.
- As one of the premiere centers in the world for conservation science, SCBI applies the latest technology and research in animal behavior, reproduction, ecology, genomics, migration, and conservation sustainability to tackle some of the most urgent challenges facing wildlife today.