The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has developed a fool-proof method of DNA typing, using the scat samples collected from the natural habitat for correct counting of tigers. | |
| The traditional 'pugmark' method of estimating tiger populations, which had been in use for three decades in India, has inherent flaws due to substrate human errors. |
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| The pugmark method assumes that the paw-print of each tiger is individual-specific, and therefore, during a tiger census, plaster casts and tracings of the left hind paw prints of a tiger are made wherever encountered. The numbers are arrived at on the basis of paw measurements. |
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| Moreover, the pugmarks would change in shape and size based on the substrate that a tiger walks upon. Thus, a single tiger could possibly be counted as several individuals. |
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| The new method developed by the centre is different from this, and has an accuracy of 99 per cent, Lalji Singh, CCMB director, told mediapersons here on Monday. |
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| The new method was developed by Lalji Singh and his PhD student Jyotsna Bhagavathula. |
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| Giving more insights into how the method works, Singh said the new non-invasive method was developed based on 'DNA fingerprints' to identify the scats of tigers with greater certainty than the morphological methods that are generally used. |
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| "We have carried out a pilot study with 25 faecal samples collected from nine tigers in two protected areas -- Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and BRT Sanctuary. DNA was isolated from the scats and the samples were positively identified as tiger's with the DNA-based assay that we developed. Samples are then subjected to DNA fingerprinting. The results showed that one can uniquely distinguish one tiger from another, thereby arriving at reasonable estimates of tiger populations using mathematical models," he said. |
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| Around Rs 1.5 crore is required to estimate tiger population across all the sanctuaries in the country using the new method, Singh said, adding that CCMB would take up the mission if the government asked them to do so. |
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| He said CCMB had set up the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) on the outskirts of the city at an investment of Rs 10 crore, which is fully functional, and will be dedicated to the nation by President APJ Abdul Kalam by this year-end. |
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