SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KERO) — A scientist from San Diego is developing a new method for tracking tigers with the help of a smartphone.
A researcher at the San Diego Zoo says she's been using a small electro-phoresis device that's connected to her phone to examine DNA in soil samples. She says the method can detect individual tigers in an area.
The hope is the application will make it easier to track tigers in Sumatra, Indonesia's biggest island, and tiger populations across the rest of Asia. Conservation scientists are increasingly making use of environmental DNA, whether it's in soil, water, snow, or even air, to gather information about particular species or ecosystems.
