Researchers in Wisconsin have employed canines to sniff out wild bumble bee nests.
Affectionately named Betty White and Ernie, the two canines with Conservation Dogs Collective are indeed making a “snifferance” by using their noses to help researchers locate and collect data on these important pollinators. Researchers trained the dogs to sniff out approximately 20 species of bumble bees.
Importance of Dog Sniffing in Research
“Nests, in general, are just super hard for humans to find by themselves. Any valuable find for the dogs is helpful for the researchers,” Laura Holder of the Collective told Spectrum News in Milwaukee. As part of their training, Holder hid parts of nests for the dogs to locate. “We train with different volumes of the bumble bee nest material. Out in the wild, there could be a tiny little nest or a really large nest,” she explained.
Jade Kochanski, University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. graduate student, told Spectrum News that he saw the dogs working this past summer. “These dogs are super impressive. When they find a nest, they know exactly where it is,” he said. “If we can increase the efficiency and accuracy of finding bumble bee nests, that can help us answer research questions.”
“Finding the correlation between where [the bees] are foraging to where nests are found is a critical piece of information that’s missing right now,” said Holder. As for bee stings, Holder packs Benadryl, just in case. However, he says that you have to make bumble bees upset to make them sting humans or dogs.
Researchers are increasingly turning to canines to “advance conservation, one wet nose at a time,” reads the Conservation Dogs Collective website. In addition to using dog snouts for locating elusive species like the bumble bee, researchers employ sniffer dogs for many other scientific tasks. Trained canines help protect endangered species, like turtles. They also combat invasive species, like the Giant African Snail. With the need for canine noses growing larger, Betty White and Ernie likely have successful careers ahead.
