AP
Conservationists said they plan to send some 520 samples of elephant dung to Australia for DNA analysis, hoping the results will help them estimate more accurately the number of elephants in the Cambodian wild.
The samples will be sent to a laboratory in Melbourne in the next few weeks, said Matt Maltby, the technical adviser of the US-based Fauna and Flora International's Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group.
DNA from the dung can reveal the age, sex and health of the individual elephant that produced it, the group said in its statement.
DNA Solutions, the Australian firm that will analyse the samples, said a population profile can be compiled from DNA analysis.
"By looking at the number of unique profiles from the samples, and using statistical calculations, we plan to be able to find the population of Cambodian elephants left in the wild," DNA Solutions said in a statement on its website.
Tuy Sereivathana, project manager for Fauna and Flora International, said researchers began collecting the samples in January this year from various sites in the Cardamom Mountains, southwest of the capital Phnom Penh.
The mountains include forests stretching over 10,000sq km, the US-based conservation group said on its website.
The mountains are believed to be home to the largest population of elephants in Cambodia. Various estimates have put the total nationwide at between 200 to 500 elephants, Maltby said.
He said a technique using cameras strapped to trees has proven ineffective in helping keep an accurate count. "Usually you just get a camera shot of the leg or not good enough shots to identify individual elephants," he said.
The samples will be sent to a laboratory in Melbourne in the next few weeks, said Matt Maltby, the technical adviser of the US-based Fauna and Flora International's Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group.
DNA from the dung can reveal the age, sex and health of the individual elephant that produced it, the group said in its statement.
DNA Solutions, the Australian firm that will analyse the samples, said a population profile can be compiled from DNA analysis.
"By looking at the number of unique profiles from the samples, and using statistical calculations, we plan to be able to find the population of Cambodian elephants left in the wild," DNA Solutions said in a statement on its website.
Tuy Sereivathana, project manager for Fauna and Flora International, said researchers began collecting the samples in January this year from various sites in the Cardamom Mountains, southwest of the capital Phnom Penh.
The mountains include forests stretching over 10,000sq km, the US-based conservation group said on its website.
The mountains are believed to be home to the largest population of elephants in Cambodia. Various estimates have put the total nationwide at between 200 to 500 elephants, Maltby said.
He said a technique using cameras strapped to trees has proven ineffective in helping keep an accurate count. "Usually you just get a camera shot of the leg or not good enough shots to identify individual elephants," he said.
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