CSI: Upstate New York

©New York State Museum

Criminalistics meets conservation in northern New York’s Adirondack region, home to the elusive fisher. It’s not a trespasser—or suspect of any kind. Rather, the fisher, a member of the weasel family, is the only carnivore known to have unique fingerprints. Scientists from the New York State Museum, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and other groups have teamed up with the New York State Department of Criminal Justice in this latest development in “wildlife forensics.”

Field biologists surveying New York’s fisher population are employing special tracking boxes equipped with bait to attract the carnivores to their study sites. The animals’ prints—made up of patterns of dots, as opposed to the ridges of human fingers—leave impressions at the sites. The scientists use this evidence to identify and count the number of individuals that have passed through the area. The method is far simpler and less expensive compared with DNA fingerprinting and other techniques.

In the survey, fishers were the second most commonly detected carnivore species, behind coyotes. “Our study suggests fisher populations are healthy throughout most of northern New York,” said Justina Ray, director of the WCS Canada program. “They are increasing in most of the northeastern United States, showing that wildlife can reclaim their turf if forests are allowed to recover.”

Fishers were nearly driven to extinction in New York State by deforestation and over-trapping. When they finally received protection in the 1930s, they gradually recovered, and limited trapping was again permitted in the 1970s. The recent fisher population boom appears to have begun in the 1990s. Fishers spread south out of the Adirondacks and Vermont and into the Hudson Valley. They are also spreading westward, with today’s leading edge around Syracuse. In the past six years, fishers were recorded in the suburbs of Albany and Boston.

The scientists hope to apply the fingerprinting technique to study other wild species that may also have unique patterns in their tracks. Primates and koalas are known to have fingerprints. “My hope is that we can apply this kind of inexpensive, sure-fire technology to help conserve a wide range of species, especially those that are threatened with extinction,” said Ray.

Other animals that crossed the fisher fingerprinting traps also left potentially valuable evidence. “The few porcupine and opossum tracks we got had incredible patterns and will probably turn out to be unique with more study,” said Dr. Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum.

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