Group uses new technology to track salamanders

LOUDONVILLE, Ohio (AP) — The group scanned the river, searching for signs of the slimy, dirt-colored salamanders from its muddy banks.

To actually see an elusive Eastern hellbender salamander, though, they'd have to flip the large, flat boulders that shield their underwater living spaces and plunge into the murky water of the Mohican River.

The process is labor-intensive and unlikely to yield results in areas where the state-endangered salamanders haven't been spotted before.

But a new tool that tests water for tiny traces of animal DNA can help researchers figure out if they're on the right track before they begin searching. The emerging science is called environmental DNA, or "eDNA" for short.