{"id":30049,"date":"2023-07-07T13:10:29","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T11:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=78027"},"modified":"2023-07-07T16:36:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T14:36:57","slug":"dogs-can-detect-more-than-drugs-now-mans-best-friend-has-been-recruited-to-protect-a-rare-animal","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/dogs-can-detect-more-than-drugs-now-mans-best-friend-has-been-recruited-to-protect-a-rare-animal\/","title":{"rendered":"Dogs can detect more than drugs. Now, man\u2019s best friend has been recruited to protect a rare animal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A canine conservationist called Freya is helping scientists to locate endangered great crested newts <\/p>

By Stuart Blackman\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 07 July 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Sniffer dogs can detect drugs, explosives, escaped prisoners and, it turns out, great crested newts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New research published in PLOS ONE<\/a><\/em> shows that a springer spaniel named Freya is able to detect the amphibians buried in the soil with nearly 90 per cent accuracy.<\/p>\n

\""Great\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus<\/em>) on moss in spring. Females lack the crest of the males. \u00a9\u00a0Sandra Sandbridge\/Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Freya\u2019s owner and collaborator is Nikki Glover, an ecologist at the University of Salford<\/a>, who came up with the idea in 2014 while working on a reptile relocation project at a housing development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was time pressure to find all these reptiles,\u201d she says. \u201cThen I came across an article about using dogs to find bat<\/a> carcasses under wind turbines, so I got a puppy and went from there. Freya turned out to be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

More related content:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great crested newt guide: where they\u2019re found, how to identify, and why they\u2019re protected<\/a><\/p>\n

How dogs are helping cat conservation<\/a><\/p>\n

What are \u2018seal-dogs\u2019 and what do they do?<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div> <\/section>

Glover is hopeful that the technique will shed new light on the biology of great crested newts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know a lot about them aquatically, but we don\u2019t have much of a clue about what they do terrestrially,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is a lovely non-invasive way to study that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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