The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is one of these secretive and nocturnal species. In Germany, this species lives particularly hidden, is nocturnal and difficult to observe. However, since otters defecate a lot, which they use for intraspecific communication, the search for otter scats as a non-invasive search method became the standard survey method. In previous studies, the faeces were searched and collected from trained people. However, in the period between 2006 and 2012, the sympatric occurrence of the American mink (Neovison vison) increased dramatically in the study area of the Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape. While at the beginning of the study only single scat samples collected could be reliably genetically assigned to the mink, in 2010-2012 over 10% of all samples collected and visually identified as otter actually came from the mink. A total of 34% of the samples came from sympatric carnivores whose faeces resembled those of the otter in shape and colour due to fish being the main food source. Therefore, verification of the focal species is extremely helpful before using expensive genetic methods.

In a next step, we compared the performance of the detection dogs in real field situations with that of trained people. Detection dog teams and human teams had to search the same transects and note down where they found which scat. Each scat was photographed for identification. This test took place in a natural range of the otter, so that no scat had to be spread and touched by a human beforehand.

The trained detection dogs were very successful in distinguishing between species with up to 100% accuracy, even when they were closely related and were fed with the same diet. The average accuracy of all trained dogs was 0.95, beating even the experts in the field, who only achieved an average accuracy of 0.89. The average accuracy of all trained people tested was 0.58, which is within the realm of chance.

In real fieldwork, it was also shown that a search with detection dogs is faster and considerably more scats were found than with traditional visual searches. The scat detection dogs found four times more scat samples than the human teams, were twice as fast and were not interested in how big the scat was or what colour it was. Humans, on the other hand, predominantly found larger and lighter-coloured scats and overlooked small or hidden scats.

One of our recent otter projects can be found here.

In nature conservation, detection dogs can not only detect the scat or traces of certain animals, but also the animals themselves. They can therefore be particularly useful in the search for amphibians and reptiles. In a pilot study, we were for example able to show that a trained detection dog can easily find green lizards.

One of our main fields of application is the search for newts. Newt detection dog Zammy can meanwhile detect pond, great crested, alpine and palmate newts. While we know comparably a lot about their aquatic life and can protect their spawning habitats accordingly, we still know almost nothing about their terrestrial habitats. However, this knowledge is indispensable for effective species conservation, especially since the animals spend most of their lives on land. The main problem is therefore to find the animals or their hideouts on land. Therefore, we currently have a trained newt detection dog that can find migrating animals as well as the summer and winter retreats. He is currently helping us to collect valuable habitat data, which we then evaluate.

Find out more information about the project here.

Besides the search for newts, we are intensively involved in the search for hidden toads, especially the natterjack toad. Although natterjack toads can be found by typically "turning stones", it sometimes takes a long time to find a stone under which a toad is also sitting. Moreover, in denser habitats, visual search is almost impossible. Whether and to what extent the pioneer species therefore uses such microhabitats at all, whether for migration or as a refuge, is therefore unknown so far. The natterjack toad detection dogs are intended to close this gap. They are also used to effectively search for the animals within larger radii of the main occurrence areas.

Find out more information about the project here.

Invasive alien species (IAS) cause problems for the protection and conservation of native flora and fauna, create economic damage and in some cases endanger the health of humans. IAS are a major cause of biodiversity loss. In a citizen science project, we are currently training dog owners and their dogs to search for IAS using a controlled methodology. Activities of the project include developing information materials, conducting training and collecting IAS data.

Find out more here or at www.igamon.de.

In recent decades, dogs have been increasingly used to detect rare and hidden species and their tracks. The use of wildlife detection dogs is particularly well established in North America, Europe and Oceania, and projects using wildlife detection dogs have increased worldwide. However, if they are to make a significant contribution to conservation and management, their strengths, capabilities and limitations need to be identified.

For this reason, a review study was carried out at the UFZ in cooperation with Dr Anne Berger from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin, in which 1220 publications were evaluated documenting the use of such search dogs in more than 60 countries. More than 400 different animal species were in the focus, in addition to 42 different plant, 26 fungal and 6 bacterial species. Of particular interest was which dog breeds were used where and for which targets, and whether there were differences in their success. The results can be read in the journal "Methods in Ecology and Evolution".