Indian Wildlife Club Forum

Scientists of the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered species (La-Cones), Attapur, Hyderabad, have come up with tiger census system using DNA fingerprinting.

DNA is extracted from the samples of faeces of tigers. It is screened with existing tigers'DNA samples to determine whether the sample belongs to the same tiger.

The scientists of la-Cones are the first in the world to conduct tiger census using DNA finger printing. Africa has experimented with thisfor elephant population.

The Pilot project conducted in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and BRT sanctuary in Tamil Nadu have given 99% accuracy according to officials. The cost for conducting the tiger census in all reserves in the country would be about Rs 1.5 crore.