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

Abstract

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 45 m and dart gun pressures of 5–14 millibar. The number of failed darts increased by increasing the darting distance: 0% (10 m), 0% (20 m), 6% (30 m), 20% (35 m), 71% (40 m), and 67% (45 m). There was a notable effect of the distances on the amount of tissue collected 20 m 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 wildebeest to obtain optimum amount of tissue samples, which could be generalized for similar wild land mammalian species.

Performance of helicopter-based biopsy darting of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) on the spring sea ice

“…In one instance, we made a third (successful) attempt to dart a bear, after the first dart failed to collect a biopsy sample and the second shot was a miss. Similar to Mijele et al (2016), we considered a dart successful if it hit the animal, bounced out, and obtained a skin sample. Darts were not reused, and missed darts were not used in our calculation of dart success rate.…”

“…Yet, the method has not been widely used on terrestrial species. To our knowledge, few studies have used biopsy darting on terrestrial mammals (e.g., Dubach et al 2013, Beausoleil et al 2016, Mijele et al 2016, including polar bears seasonally residing on land (Dyck 2016;Atkinson et al 2021;Galicia et al 2021), brown bears (U. arctos; Olson 2009), and black bears (U. americanus; Shivik et al 2011). For terrestrial mammals, the development of protocols and best practices, studies on the impact to affected individuals, and evaluations of performance lag far behind that for cetaceans.…”

Application of noninvasive sampling technique in mitochondrial genome intraspecific phylogeny of the endangered butterfly, Teinopalpus aureus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

“…The NDS method involves minimally invasive collection of localized tissue samples (e.g., blood, muscle, etc. ), often through capture or the use of tools like biopsy dart guns ( Hoelzel and Amos 1988 , Georgiadis et al 1994 , Pagano et al 2014 , Mijele et al 2016 ). Conversely, the NIS method strives for nonintrusive, nondisturbance, noninvasive (to live animals or their specimens) sampling conditions.…”

Establishment of Primary Adult Skin Fibroblast Cell Lines from African Savanna Elephants (Loxodonta africana)

“…However, one previous protocol is currently available from Siengdee et al, wherein primary fibroblast cell lines were established from post-mortem elephant ear samples [17]. In contrast to this previous protocol, our method starts from a small skin punch biopsy sample of living elephants, which allows remote biopsy darting, a technique which is no longer limited to post-mortem collection and could eliminate the need for sedation [36]. It also provides the opportunity to collect skin tissue samples from a variety of free-ranging terrestrial animals, including the elusive African forest elephant.…”