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DNA test to help save Sumatran elephants

Endangered: An activist washes a Sumatran elephant at Surabaya Zoo in East Java in this file photo

Elly Burhaini Faizal (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, January 16, 2013

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DNA test to help save Sumatran elephants

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span class="inline inline-none">Endangered: An activist washes a Sumatran elephant at Surabaya Zoo in East Java in this file photo. Researchers will conduct DNA-based research projects to help conserve the endangered Sumatran elephants. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)

The Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia agreed on Monday to collaborate on molecular genetics-based research projects to conserve the Sumatran elephant, which has been listed as a critically endangered species.

The DNA-based test can estimate the population of the Sumatran elephant and determine the distribution of the species.

WWF Indonesia’s CEO Efransjah said that conserving the Sumatran elephant and its habitat required an accurate assessment of the population’s status and geographical distribution.

“By using a non-invasive technique, we can determine the number of Sumatran elephants and map out a pattern of the species’ distribution, their family classifications and other ecological aspects,” he said during the signing ceremony.

Eijkman Institute chairman Sangkot Marzuki, who signed the agreement on behalf of his institute, noted that, “today’s agreement is truly important and strategic. It is the first time we have jointly established a scientific research agenda that will make use of the DNA-based test to study the Sumatran elephant population in the country.”

The DNA-based test, which uses samples of the elephant’s feces, particularly aims to conserve the Sumatran elephants in Tesso Nilo national conservation park (TNTN) in Palalawan regency, Riau province.

With the molecular analysis procedure, researchers can also identify the body parts of endangered species that prosecutors use as evidence when taking poachers to trial.

In 2012, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international conservation body, considered Sumatran elephants a critically endangered species.

In total, 68 animals in Indonesia are critically-endangered, 69 animals are on the endangered species list and 1,517 species are vulnerable to extinction.

During the past 25 years, the Sumatran elephant population in Riau declined to, at most, 330 from 1,300 in 1984, data from WWF Indonesia and Riau’s Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) revealed.

Excessive land conversion and over-hunting — in particular illegal poaching — are two of the biggest threats faced by Sumatran elephants in Indonesia, especially in TNTN. The stalking and killing of Sumatran elephants has most likely become more intense since deforestation for oil palm plantations has destroyed their natural habitat.

According to Law No.5/1990 on natural resources and ecosystem conservation, wildlife trade is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a Rp 100 million (US$10,341) fine.

During the last few years, the Eijkman Institute has worked with the Forestry Ministry’s BKSDA to identify samples of animal body parts seized from poachers using forensic DNA testing. Most of the animals were Sumatran tigers.

Herawati Sudoyo, Eijkman’s molecular biologist, told journalists that wildlife conservation needed identification methods that involved a molecular-genetic approach to identify where a particular species originates from.

“We can also use the DNA-based test to determine more accurately whether the animal samples seized are truly endangered species from this country so the prosecutors can enforce the Wildlife Law,” Herawati Sudoyo, the Eijkman’s molecular biologist told journalists.

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