A practical guideline to remote biopsy darting of wildebeests for genetic sampling

Publication date: Available online 10 December 2016 Source:International Journal of Veterinary Science and Medicine Author(s): Domnic Mijele, Patrick Omondi, Francis Gakuya, Luca Rossi, Patrick I. Chiyo, Ramón C. Soriguer, Samer Angelone-Alasaad The use of biopsy darts for remote collection of tissue samples from free-ranging terrestrial and aquatic animal species has gained popularity in the recent past. The success of darting is very important since scientists may not have many chances to re-dart the same animal, especially with the free-ranging elusive wildlife species. We used wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) as a model to estimate the optimum shooting distance, pressure and the shot part of the body through which a researcher can optimize the success and amount of tissue collected from similar wild land mammalian species. Wildebeests were darted at six categories of distances ranging between 10 and 45m and dart gun pressures of 5–14millibar. The number of failed darts increased by increasing the darting distance: 0% (10m), 0% (20m), 6% (30m), 20% (35m), 71% (40m), and 67% (45m). There was a notable effect of the distances on the amount of tissue collected 20m offered the best results. Dart gun pressure had no effect on the amount of tissue samples obtained. The amount of tissue obtained from successful darts was the same whether the animal was darted on the shoulder or thigh. In this paper, we present a practical guideline for remote biopsy darting of wilde...
Source: International Journal of Veterinary Science and Medicine - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research