- The team hard at work in the field preparing the biopsy dart
Last week I spent four happy days biopsy darting lions on VLNR with Galagos Wildlife Conservation as my helpers. I am a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr Paul Funston at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria and a big part of my project is looking at the genetics of isolated populations of lions on small reserves in South Africa, hence the biopsy darting to collect tissue samples from which the DNA can be extracted.
The lions on VLNR are part of a large population of lions in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area and little is known about their genetic origins so not only will the info from these samples help with the genetic management of theVLNR’s lions, but it will also help to determine which, if any, of the large populations of lions these ones are most closely related to.
Biopsy darting is simple, in theory. Step 1. Find the lion. Step 2. Fire a biopsy dart at the lion using a traditional dart gun. Step 3. Retrieve the dart (unlike darts that are designed to deliver a drug, the biopsy dart is not barbed and so falls out almost immediately, with a small tissue sample inside the hollow needle). Step 4. Transfer the sample from the needle into a tube with a buffer solution. Repeat as necessary for each lion.
Step 1. Finding the lion – As anyone who has spent any time on VLNR will tell you, this step can be very difficult and this time was no exception. With 34 000 hectares of reserve to hide in, even radio-collared lions can be hard to find and the lions must have known I was coming as Thika (lioness) and her two 18 month old cubs were hiding in the extreme south-east corner of the reserve the entire time I was there. However, she didn’t completely elude us and eventually, after many hours of driving both on and off road by Dave and exceptional radio-tracking by Wendy, we managed to locate her, not once, not twice, but three times.
Step 2. Hitting the target – Again, sounds easy, and it is, if the target is a cardboard box with a target drawn on it. Not quite the same with a live, moving lion. Once again, perseverance paid off and there were only a few misses due to unexpected movements of the lions and one perfect hit that for some reason didn’t result in a sample.
Step 3. Retrieving the dart – Probably the hardest part, especially as Thika and her cubs seemed to have acquired a taste for the darts. They managed to chew up two of the darts (not the needles thank goodness as one of them had a sample from Thika in it) before we were able to retrieve them. Some careful manoeuvring of the vehicle and a close lookout by those not doing the retrieving were essential to keep us all safe.
Step 4. Transferring the sample – This part was easy, although my hands were shaking from the adrenaline of successfully firing the darts!
Overall, a successful trip to the bush. Thanks to Dave and everyone at Galagos for your help – I couldn’t have got the samples without you – I hope you all enjoyed the experience!
Susan Miller – PhD Student, Pretoria
Galagos Wildlife Conservation 