Good boys find bad koi – just as well as fancy lab equipment

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-09-06 10:44

Australia; New Zealand; ACT

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A scent-trained dog can detect whether invasive carp are present in water, without ever seeing the fish. Researchers pitted a dog named Ruby against environmental DNA sampling tools, which can detect tiny traces of genetic material that the koi carp leave behind in the water. They found the canine's nose had a similar accuracy level to the eDNA sampling when they tested Ruby's abilities in a laboratory, and they suggest that with more research, dogs could become a more time, cost, and labour effective way of detecting pests.

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Journal/
conference: Applied Animal Behaviour Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Waikato, University of Canberra

Funder: We would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [grant number UOWX1805] who funded this project.

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