Counting animals by picking up DNA from the air

To discover what kinds of animals can be found in the water, scientists have used environmental DNA from water samples for a long time, and this appears to also work with eDNA from the air.

If this really works, it will be an additional tool for monitoring animal species on Earth, especially in the case of animals that are difficult to monitor by other means. The researchers previously tested the technique successfully in the lab with a colony of naked mole rats, but it now appears to work in a more challenging environment.

During the same period, without knowing each other, scientists in England and Denmark were able to use the technique of smell to discover and identify the DNA of dozens of animal species in and around two zoos. Even up to hundreds of meters from animal pens.

The teams, prepared by a joint publication, did not use the same types and numbers of sensors. Which helps in the search for the ideal measurement method. By the way, this method – as promising as it sounds – is far from perfect, because some animals in zoos – including the tiger – have not been discovered. Why this is so, they have not yet discovered.

Read more here: Scientists have discovered dozens of plants and animals from floating DNA.