Researchers analyse DNA from dung to save Laos elephants

AFP English

Once abundant in the forests of Laos, Asian elephants have been decimated by habitat destruction, gruelling labour in the logging industry, poaching and scarce breeding opportunities. But conservationists are hoping DNA analysis of elephants' dung will help them track both captive and wild tuskers, so they can secure a healthy genetic pool and craft an effective breeding plan to protect the species.

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00:00It's a big fish.

00:07It's a big fish.

00:14It's a big fish.

00:21It's a big fish.

00:28It's a big fish.

00:33The ultimate goal is to understand how many elephants we have in Laos,

00:36how many they live in the wild and how many they live in the human care,

00:39and how related they are with each other.

00:42Like, if we started to face inbreeding or not.

01:12So, I don't know from now to the future if that's going to be OK,

01:26about 20 or 30 years or not, because it seems to be not OK,

01:30because compared to the number of babies born and the number die,

01:35elephants start to decrease a lot.

01:38In this time, it's not difficult to breed elephants.

01:44Before, it wasn't difficult to breed elephants.

01:46Now, it's a health issue.

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