Sex determination among Elephas maximus faecal samples collected from selected sampling plots in Taman Negara National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia

Sex determination among wild Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) populations in Taman Negara National Parks (TNPP), Peninsular Malaysia were very crucial by using ecological techniques such as biodiversity inventories or dung count survey. With advance molecular sexing technique, the sex ratio among wild E. maximus in study area can be determined. As a first move, we conduct this particular experiment by using two Y-specific and one X-specific molecular sexing primers on 63 wild Asian elephant faecal samples together with 10 positive controls from known elephant individuals in National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) Kuala Gandah, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. DNA extraction were done by using Qiagen kits and we carried out multiplex PCR and visualized those PCR products on agarose gel before proceed with fragment analysis. Fragment analyses with 3 peaks were confirmed for male while female showed the expected 1 peak. The outcome showed, 31 samples were from female elephants while remaining 32 samples from male. This is very significant and strong outcome which proofs that molecular sexing markers can be used in non-invasive samples as well and be a good baseline data to study Asian elephant social organization in TNPP, Peninsular Malaysia.