The golden drool: Study finds treasure trove of info in saliva of foraging bears

Date: November 9, 2016

Source: Oregon State University

The rivers and streams of Alaska are littered in the summer and fall with carcasses of tens of thousands of salmon that not only provide a smorgasbord for hungry brown bears but are also the newest database in the arsenal of wildlife biologists.

A new study, published this week in the journal PLOS ONE, documents the ability of researchers to gather DNA from residual saliva on partially consumed salmon to the point that they can even identify individual bears from the genetic samples. The discovery should provide a significant boost to research on the population and health of brown bears, which can grow to a size of 1,500 pounds.

"In the past, population estimates have been largely based on visual observations and on the analysis of fecal samples," said Taal Levi, an assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University and co-author on the study. "We found that using bear saliva is not only easier and cheaper as a research tool, it is more effective."

In their study, the researchers examined 156 partially consumed salmon carcasses of lakeshore-spawning sockeye salmon in the Chilkoot watershed and stream-spawning chum salmon at Herman Creek in the Klehini watershed -- both near Haines, Alaska. They also swabbed a total of 272 brown bear "scats," or fecal samples, from those same locations.

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