Identifying the sex of a carnivore with a footprint
Fisher in a tree cavity.
The ability to accurately identify the sex of wildlife is crucial to management effectiveness. Males and females often have different ecological needs when it comes to habitat, prey, denning, response to disturbance, and more. Knowing the sex allows managers to tailor their strategies to these sex-specific ecological needs. However, it is difficult to collect sex information on rare and hard to detect species - which are often the most threatened. Non-invasive methods like camera traps and acoustic recorders can detect species but not always identify the sex of the animal. To accurately identify sex requires either invasive techniques or analysis of a genetic sample, but these can be costly and time-consuming; two limiting traits that prevent scientists from having the most up-to-date information.
Scientists have developed a new technology for determining the sex of the endangered Sierra Nevada fisher using only its footprint. It is important to identify sex of individuals in this population because females have hyper-specific habitat and prey requirements to raise their kits, and conservation measures are frequently focused on preserving female reproductive habitat. Footprint Identification Technology is a technique that geo-references and systematically measures tracks to accurately identify species and sex. Footprint Identification Technology was used to create a long-term dataset of fisher and marten tracks collected at track plates that were species and sex verified using genetic samples to develop highly accurate species and sex identification methods.
Footprint Identification Technology results showed more than 99 percent accuracy in species identification and more than 90 percent accuracy in fisher sex identification. The results show that Footprint Identification Technology is an alternative, cost-effective, and fast method for reliable sex and species identification. To further increase accessibility, the research team is developing a Fisher sex identification app with an easy-to-use interface. The accessibility of the technology will allow for up-to-date species understanding and management in rapidly changing environments while also paving the way for future Footprint Identification Technology development.