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1 September 1998 |
Ref 98/205 |
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Scientists are planning to take DNA samples from the dung of cassowaries, in a bid to keep track of one of Australia's most strange and exotic birds.
Cassowaries are a threatened species. No-one really knows how many of these large flightless birds are left in the World Heritage tropical rainforests of northern Australia.
Dr David Westcott of CSIRO and the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management, says estimates range from about 1000 to about 4000. Although local groups have made accurate counts of birds in their areas, the estimates for the total population are largely guesswork.
"For the first time we hope to get an accurate count of these solitary birds," he says. "The tests will enable us to tell whether the dung samples come from one bird or several, and to establish family relationships between the birds."
Scientists know little about cassowaries, despite their significance to the functioning of the rainforests and their attraction to tourists.
Cassowaries look like stocky, stout-legged emus. But their neck and head are brilliant shades of red, purple and blue, with spectacular wattles dangling from their necks.
Dr Westcott says cassowaries eat a wide variety of rainforest fruits and produce dung with much of the fruit still intact.
"Their dung looks and smells like a warm fruit salad," he says. "Cassowaries help regenerate the rainforest by dispersing large seeds over considerable distances.
"But we know surprisingly little about how far they move over a season, or about their mating and breeding patterns."
Dr David Groth of Curtin University is working on the DNA side of the experiment, and the cloning, sequencing and the genetic analysis will be done in Perth.
DNA technique has been used to analyse populations and determine the parentage of brown bears in Europe, and Major Mitchell cockatoos and other birds in Australia.
"The DNA comes from cells which flake off the gut when birds defecate, or it may come from feathers shed by the birds," he says.
"We are at the early stages of sequencing the DNA of cassowaries so that we have a baseline to compare against our dung samples. It costs about $40 to test a sample, and the comparison is the easy part.
"The hard part is establishing the basic DNA 'fingerprint' of the cassowary in the first place."
Current methods of counting cassowaries are slow and inaccurate (when large areas are involved). Scientists survey the forestry trails for sightings, footprints and dung traces; and on a local scale volunteer groups identify birds through recording different features.
The main threats to cassowaries come from dogs, cars, feral pigs (which compete for fruit, and also eat cassowary eggs), the loss of habitat and tuberculosis.
The Cooperative Research Centres Program was set up to strengthen
collaborative research links between industry, research organisations,
educational institutions and relevant government agencies.
For interview:
Dr David Westcott (07) 4091 8827 (work)
0419 627 142 (mobile)
(07) 4091 4912 (home)
Dr David Groth (08) 9361 9058 (work)
0417 915 837 (mobile)
Photos of David Westcott examining the "warm fruit salad" dung of cassowaries is available by contacting Kerry or Jenni.
For information:
Kerry Moore (07) 4042 1245 (work)
0419 769106 (mobile)
Jenni Metcalfe (07) 3846 7111(work
014 916 372 (mobile)
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