Collegiate Times

Deep in the jungles of Belize, lies the elusive jaguar. Despite being the largest cat in Central and South America, little is known about the speedy animal residing in thick forests. However, two researchers from Virginia Tech are using scat dogs and cameras to learn more about the important species.

Bet you never thought you'd visit Awful Arthur's to discuss these evasive jaguars.

But Tuesday night at 7 p.m., Marcella Kelly and Claudia Wultsch will present photographs and discuss their experiences tracking the large cats in Belize .  

This presentation is part of Cafe Scientifique - a movement that began in the U.K. that seeks to make scientific ideas accessible to the general public and take research out of an academic setting.

Kelly, an associate professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, and Wultsch, a Ph.D. student in fisheries and wildlife, work together in Belize to study the elusive and important animals.

Jaguars are difficult to capture and study because they're fast and live in thick, impenetrable forests. They're an "umbrella species" which means that because they cover a large geographic range, their status in the ecosystem directly affects the health and presence of other animals in their environment.

Researchers Kelly and Wultsch employ non-invasive methods to study the animals and never handle or capture them.

Kelly is in charge of "camera trapping" and setting up heat and motion censor cameras that photograph the jaguars in five sites around Belize. Camera trapping tells the researchers about prey, longevity, mortality and the reproductive rates of the animals.

Wultsch uses former police dogs, Billy and Bruiser, to find jaguar scat samples. Using the excrement, she can isolate DNA and analyze diet and parasites.

Wultsch said having one former bomb dog and one former drug dog adds a unique aspect to her research.

"The two dogs I worked with, they were both very strong characters and fascinating individuals because they both had their history and they do great things," Wultsch said. "It's just kind of having another sense. Whenever I go out without the dog, because I'm not collecting scat right now, you miss a lot of information, because he's kind of another eye ... or nose."

She also said their research is novel because it combines various research methods.

"We are basically one of the first projects worldwide using dogs, cameras, genetics on that sort of scale," Wultsch said.

She and Kelly will spend next year analyzing their data and are excited to discuss what they've been working on with the community.

"It's always great to share with the general public because I don't think the public knows," Kelly said. "They have no clue that such cool stuff goes on."

Darleen Baker, a Virginia Bioinformatics Institute project coordinator, organizes the Cafes and brought the program to Tech a year ago.  This Tuesday's meeting is the fourth installment.

 "The purpose is to get the research that's going on at Virginia Tech into the non-academic forum and allow people to talk about it. To have discussions, to ask questions," Baker said.  

She invites researchers who are examining issues that appeal to the community to speak. Past topics range from simulation science, chemistry, computer science, and digital libraries and learning. Baker said she strives to have a variety of presentation subjects.

"There is just a huge amount of research going on at Virginia Tech that so many people don't know about," Baker said. "This is a wonderful opportunity to let people know what people are doing."