In this file photo of Monday Dec.17, 2012, a herd of adult and baby elephants walks in the dawn light as the highest mountain in Africa, Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, is seen in the background.

Using Animal Dung as a Conservation Tool

The Leonard Lopate Show | Jan 10, 2017

Jonathan Capehart guest hosts today!

Conservation biologist Dr. Sam Wasser joins us to discuss his work aimed at stopping illegal ivory poaching in Africa. Wasser, who was profiled by Elizabeth Kolbert for a recent article in Smithsonian Magazine (“There’s a New Tool in the Fight Against Elephant Poaching”), has developed a geographic map of elephant genetics using DNA extracted from dung and matching the ivory to the region where the elephant was slaughtered using his "dung map." His research is helping not only elephant populations, but other species around the world, including bears, wolves and whales.

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