Michael Gonzalez discusses wildlife forensics and mammal hair. He tells “The WildLife” host Laurel Neme how hair varies—between species and even on the same animal—and how he is developing a database of mammal hair that can be used by wildlife forensic scientists to identify hair in cases of illegal trafficking of the world’s most endangered animals. Michael Gonzalez is a forensic science master’s student at California State University in Fresno. Under the direction of his faculty mentor, Dr. Kevin Miller, assistant professor of chemistry and criminology at Fresno State and director of the Forensic Science master’s program, Gonzalez began creating and compiling the database from hair specimens found in the collection of Fresno State’s Biology Department. This work quickly spread to include eight different body regions of each animal and is being conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon. This internet-based database will ultimately hold more than 2,000 mammal species and has already become well known in the professional forensic world, including the prestigious National Institute of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In fact, Gonzalez received the 2010 Wildlife Forensic Science award from the Society for Wildlife Forensic Sciences (SWFS) for outstanding thesis work. This episode of “The WildLife” aired on The Radiator, WOMM-LP, 105.9 FM in Burlington, Vermont on July 5, 2010.
The WildLife: Pangolin Rescue with Save Vietnam's Wildlife, Thai Van Nguyen and Gillian Fuller
The WildLife: From bats to humans - echolocation for the blind, Carol Foster
The WildLife: Madison Vorva, Girl Scout and Teen Activist for Orangutans
The WildLife: Rhiannon Tomtishen, Girl Scout and Teen Activist for sustainable palm oil
The WildLife: Kevin Bewick, Anti-Poaching Intelligence Group of Southern Africa (APIGSA)
The WildLife: CITES CoP16 Outcomes, CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon
The WildLife: Polar Bears, Global Warming and CITES Decision, Steven Amstrup
The WildLife: CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon
The WildLife: A Lifetime with Elephants, Iain Douglas-Hamilton
The WildLife: Celia's Campaign Against the Elephant Ivory Trade, Celia Ho
The WildLife: Carbofuran impacts and forensic considerations, Ngaio Richards
The WildLife: The Rhino DNA Index System and it's Role in Anti-Poaching Efforts, Cindy Harper
The WildLife: Nature Walks and Backyard Wildlife, Mark Fraser
The WildLife: Detection Dogs and Wildlife Conservation, Megan Parker
The WildLife: Wildlife documentaries, Carol Foster
The WildLife: Nature Iraq, Anna Bachmann and Hana Ahmed Raza
The WildLife: New Frog Species Discovery in Ecuador, Alejandro Arteaga
The WildLife: The Secret Life of Seahorses, Helen Scales
The WildLife: Primate Smuggling and Tarantula Trade, David Kirkby
The WildLife: Commercial Porcupine Farming in Vietnam, Emma Brooks
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