Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Action magazine.
CCSS
W.2
Ewww, What’s That Smell?
How scientists have turned unwanted shelter dogs into poop-hunting heroes
Jaymi Heimbuch/Minden Pictures
Why are they called Conservation Canines? Conservation means the protection of living things. Canines is another word for dog
If you’re a dog, the University of Washington has your dream job. You run in the woods all day. You get to play fetch when you do your job well. And, best of all, you sniff for poop wherever you go.
That’s what life is like for 17 lucky dogs on the university’s Conservation Canines team. The team helps scientists study animals that are in danger of dying off. The dogs do their job by searching for poop—or scat, as scientists call it.
Treasure Hunt
The Conservation Canines have hunted for scat all over the world. They’ve sniffed out tiger turds in Asia and dug up lion poop in Africa. They’ve even found killer-whale waste in ocean waters.
The scientists collect the scat and study it. They learn what the animals are eating and how healthy they are. They can guess how many animals are out there and where those animals are living. This information can help scientists keep endangered animals alive.
A Nose for the Job
Jaymi Heimbuch/Minden Pictures
Studying scat
A scientist checks a poop sample that was found by one of the Conservation Canines.
The poop-hunting work helps save the dogs as well. Most of them come from animal shelters. The scientists look for dogs with so much energy that no one wants them for a pet. For many of the pups, it’s their last chance to find a home.
Once they make the team, the job comes naturally. A dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 times more powerful than a human’s. Eventually, the dogs learn to tell bear poop from bobcat poop, cougar poop from coyote poop. Well-trained dogs can even find caterpillar droppings the size of poppy seeds.
The Conservation Canines work hard. But they get to live an active life. Most of them keep their jobs until they’re 8 or 9 years old. By that time, they’ve calmed down. Often they get adopted by their handlers.
Then they can grow old in peace, sniffing for poop in their own backyards.
