Scientists rediscover rare species thought to be extinct with help from specially trained dogs: ‘A career highlight’

Daisy, the wildlife detection dog, found her first dragon after months of training and searching.

As part of a program run by Zoos Victoria in Australia, Daisy and her canine teammate, Kip, have been on a mission to locate Victorian grassland earless dragons — extremely rare reptiles that had not been seen for about 50 years and were assumed to be extinct before a rediscovery in 2023, the Guardian reported recently.

The dogs have found at least 13 of the critically endangered creatures.

The challenge for the dogs — and their human collaborators — is that there are likely fewer than 200 of the reptiles in the wild, and they often hide in spider burrows or under rocks, per the news outlet. The zoo’s search team uses the dogs’ skills in tandem with technological and traditional methods of surveying.

“If something is hidden, or camouflaged, in a burrow, and just difficult to see, it might be easy to smell,” Emma Bennett, a detection-dog trainer and researcher not involved with the project, explained to the Guardian.

Dr. Nick Rutter, who trained Daisy and works with her in the field, described her first find as “a career highlight” for him and told the news outlet he felt “an overwhelming cascade of joy.”

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He added that the light-brown, distinctively banded lizards are “bloody gorgeous.”

According to the news article and accompanying video, the dogs appear happy doing their duty of finding reptiles. They take payment in the form of “treats, cuddles, ball games, and praise.”

This doesn’t change the fact that the team does important work. A 2023 Australian government report called the Victorian grassland earless dragon “nationally significant for being the most imperilled reptile on mainland Australia.”

Understanding more about threatened and endangered species, the roles they historically played in their habitats, and what it takes to protect them can lead to positive outcomes for animals and their surroundings. One 2023 study documented how 29 formerly threatened species in Australia are thought to have recovered from immediate risks after investments in conservation.

The Guardian reported that only about 0.5% of suitable grassland is left for the dragon, as its habitat has been encroached on by housing and farmland expansion. The effects of a warming planet are also having impacts on various habitats and animals in Australia.

Yet the discovery of the lizard species hanging on is a reminder of nature’s persistence, argued Jane Melville, a senior curator at the Museums Victoria Research Institute, per the Guardian.

“They’ve shown amazing resilience,” Melville said. “This little dragon has managed to hold on under really difficult circumstances.”

Meanwhile, the cooperative approach of humans and dogs taking action to locate the reptiles is an inspirational interspecies story.

Detection dogs — along with other animal hero species — have helped humans in Australia and elsewhere, as the Guardian noted, finding threatened species, sniffing out viruses and disease-carrying organisms, and surveying for birds and bats at wind farms.

As for the dragon detectors, Rutter said in the video that they are training additional dogs and expanding their search areas. They also want to see if their current team can generalize from their training to search for similar species that also “haven’t been seen for quite a long time.”

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