beast poop is an underappreciated resource for studying shy creature , a new sketch fence . Published today , September 21 , inPLOS One , the research by cricket bat ecologists and geneticists at Northern Arizona University finds that guano can be used to identify unlike species when the bats themselves are n’t present .
“ Bat guano is a relatively untapped reservoir of selective information , ” they write . To mine it , the researchers developed the unforgettably namedSpecies From Feces , a DNA mini - barcoding dick that can confirm the coinage of bat present in different environments or confirm the species of capture bats that are hard to name by eye . It analyzes a sealed mitochondrial cistron present in bats all over the world , but not in their prey . That makes it ideal to target in a feces tryout , where there might be remnant of the bat ’s dinner party as well as its own familial stuff .
This field corroborate the test by using it to correctly identify 54 different cricket bat species from eight families . It was right 92 percent of the time when identifying species from a declamatory research database hold the genetic information of about a third of the world ’s know bats ( 1338 coinage ) .
The trial works with both fresh guano or older pellets , and can identify both those bats that eat louse and those that feed on nectar , singly and in with child community . The project has asearchable databasewhere other investigator can confirm that the trial run works for the species they ’re looking to study . Need your bat guano tested ? See the lab ’s folder of armed service [ PDF ] .
This BM - based technique could be useful in canvass squash racquet diseases like the deadlyWhite Nose Syndrome , a fungal disease that has killed millions of North American bats .
Know of something you guess we should address ? e-mail us at tips@mentalfloss.com .
