Barcoding Bushmeat

I’m beginning to think that my LWON byline should read: Virginia Hughes, the one who writes about obscure applications of DNA testing. First there was the story about the scientist who found a rare DNA blip that could prove that the corpse in Napoleon’s tomb really is Napoleon. Then there was the team that screened DNA from a mouse’s tail to solve an international insurance dispute. And now I’ve learned that DNA tests could help save two wood grouse species from extinction.The wood grouse, or capercaillie, is a 12-pound bird that was once found all over Europe and Asia. People have hunted them since the Middle Ages, for fun and and for food. Apparently, capercaillies are the tastiest game birds in Europe, with delicate meat that’s “whiter than pheasant“.Partly because of hunting, capercaillie numbers have plummeted in the past couple of decades. For example, at last count there were just 627 Cantabrian capercaillie, a species found in northern Spain, down 70 percent since 1981.Read more at...The Last Word on Nothing, March 2011.