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Informing textile and wildlife conservation: DNA analysis of baleen from an 18th-century garment found deliberately concealed in a building Dinah Eastop and Ross McEwing ABSTRACT There is a long-standing but seldom reported apotropaic (evil-averting and protective) practice of deliberately concealing garments within buildings. Such garments are vulnerable to loss or damage because they are often soiled, creased and fragmentary when found; they can easily be mistaken for rubbish and thrown away. The Deliberately Concealed Garments Project (DCGP) was established to document such caches. Garments found in caches have huge evidential potential because caches often preserve rare examples of everyday wear. The poor condition of such garments can make sampling possible. The baleen (‘whalebone’) stiffened stomacher from the Nether Wallop cache provided an accessible source of 18th-century baleen. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) extracted from samples of the stomacher’s baleen stiffening provided evidence for a previously unrecorded, and now extinct, mitochondrial lineage of North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena glacialis. This is the first recorded example of mtDNA extraction from samples of 18th-century baleen; the oldest example previously was from large specimens of baleen plate dated 1885. Keywords: garments deliberately concealed in buildings, baleen, DNA, North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, conservation genetics Introduction Caches found in buildings Many garments (especially shoes) and other objects (such as bottles) have been found deliberately hidden within buildings (Swann 1969, 1996; Eastop 2001; Hoggard 2001). As the garment finds are often dirty, creased and fragmentary, some finders have dismissed them as rags and thrown them away as rubbish. For other people, the finding of such objects provokes intense curiosity, leading them to find out more about what they have uncovered. In 1998, the Textile Conservation Centre established the Deliberately Concealed Garments Project (DCGP)1 to help prevent the loss and destruction of such finds by encouraging the reporting, investigation and preservation of caches2 and documentation of their location, and any other material found in the cache including fabric and leather offcuts, flowers and animal bones etc. (Eastop and Dew 2003; Dew and Eastop 2003; Dew 2003). Caches have been recorded in the UK, mainland Europe, North America and Australia. A website was established as one way of encouraging interest in such finds and the reporting of caches; the website had an average of 2286 visits per month in the 12-month period from June 2003 to May 2004. A virtual collection of garment and associated finds has been made available on the website. Garments found deliberately hidden within buildings provide fascinating material for study. For historians of dress, such concealments have preserved rare examples of working dress. Two caches found in houses in Abingdon, Oxfordshire preserved the remains of a boy’s wool doublet of ca. 1600, and a once common but now very rare printed cotton, detachable pocket of 18th-century date (Harrison and Gill 2002). For curators and conservators, these garments provide exemplary models of the ethical and technical challenges of current approaches to preservation and interpretation. Should the garments be conserved as examples of historic dress or should they be conserved as examples of a once widespread domestic practice of household protection via the concealment of objects within the fabric of buildings? Should they be retained in museums for study and display or should they be documented and re-concealed? For archaeologists, historians and social anthropologists, these caches provide material evidence of a common but rarely reported practice of concealment. In the early modern period in Western Europe it was widely believed that death, disease and fire were the outcome of malevolent forces. Avoiding and accounting for misfortune was a major concern in 16thand 17th-century England (Thomas 1971). It may have been believed that concealed artifacts were one way of preventing malevolent forces from entering buildings – or of distracting or retaining such forces once they had entered. One significant characteristic of caches is that they are commonly found at 161 D I N A H E A S TO P A N D R O S S M c E W I N G points of entry to buildings – by doors, windows and chimneys. They are also found in voids (e.g. walled-up cupboards) or at the juncture of old and new structures (e.g. where additional rooms have been added to an older building). Analysis of the garments recorded in the DCGP and in the Concealed Shoe Index held at Northampton Museums and Art Gallery shows that garments were often concealed with other types of object (e.g. bottles, newsprint, offcuts of cloth and leather; bits of metal), as well as with plant and animal remains (such as seeds and chicken bones). A cache may consist of only one or two objects such as a garment and a bottle (as in the Reigate cache) or it may be a collection of many items, as in the Cuckfield cache, which included several bottles, a boned corset, a child’s printed cotton dress, several pieces of metal, a powder horn and children’s building bricks. In documenting caches as a whole, it has been possible to set deliberately concealed garments in a wider context. Rather than describing the mass of material found in caches via specific object types (e.g. shoes, bottles), it has proved helpful to classify cache finds according to properties identified as common to groups of finds (Eastop and Dew 2003: 9). The seven broad categories found useful to date are: • Objects bearing evidence of humans (e.g. worn shoes). • Objects made of resistant materials (e.g. knives). • Objects with the ability to hold something secure, i.e. by holding it firm or holding its attention (e.g. bottles and bridles; balls and bobbins). • Human substitutes (e.g. animal bones). • Objects which burn or light (e.g. candlesticks). • Objects which may serve as dating devices (e.g. newsprint). • Finally, material which has the potential for growth (e.g. seeds). The Nether Wallop cache The Nether Wallop cache, found in 1978, consists of a ‘boned’ stomacher, a man’s waistcoat and six pieces of paper. The six paper pieces (three plain, three newsprint) are cut in the shape of dressmaking patterns and have pin holes consistent with this use. One of the newsprint papers bears the following text ‘The London Evening Post, From Thursday May 14th to Saturday May 16th, 1752’. The other two pieces of newsprint appear to be cut from the same edition. The discovery of this cache was made by owners of a property in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, while renovating their house, which has a 15th-century cruck timber frame and was originally a farm dwelling. The cache was found in a first-floor room, above the current living room. The items were found together, bundled into a knot-hole in one of the oak brackets, which is joined to the main cruck frame and supports the cross-beam spanning the two arched frame members. The bracket is located in a wall facing northwest, directly above the inglenook fireplace in the room below. The farmhouse was altered in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the cache may have been formed while alterations were being made to the house. 162 In the 17th century, an upper storey was built into the original cruck frame to give two first-floor rooms, and an extra groundfloor room was built on to the southeastern end of the house. In the 18th century, another ground-floor room was built on the northwestern end with a corresponding upper room. Following the discovery of the cache, the owners of the property wrapped the items in polyethylene sheeting and kept them in the old bread oven in the inglenook fireplace. The cache remained in this location for over 20 years until the objects were taken to Winchester Museum for identification. They were then passed to the Textile Conservation Centre where the stomacher became the subject of an MA dissertation (Barbieri 2003), and underwent X-ray examination3 and DNA analysis. The materials and condition of the Nether Wallop stomacher In its present form, this garment consists of a stomacher with a shallow curved top edge and a spoon-shaped base (see Figs 1 and 2). A stomacher is a decorative, V-shaped panel worn by women at the front of an open-fronted robe; it was part of fashionable dress from the late 17th century until the last quarter of the 18th century. This stomacher is made with yellow silk on one side and a printed cloth on the other. It has five main layers: first, an outer layer of yellow rep-weave silk, which is backed with paper (the second layer). Below the paper, is the third layer – the baleen (‘whalebone’) strips. The fourth layer is a coarse weave linen fabric and the fifth layer is a finer linen fabric, block printed in black with a flower pattern. There are also the remains of a cream and orange twill-weave fabric. The baleen strips are clearly seen in X-radiographs of the stomacher (Fig. 3). The stomacher is not symmetrical in shape; it appears to have been reshaped along one side, where it is now bound with a strip of linen fabric. There are also the remains of an additional strip of baleen secured down the centre of the stomacher with thick linen thread. The same linen thread has been used to add a series of large, randomly placed stitches across the garment. It is in a fragile condition: soiling and staining are evident, but the remaining baleen appears to be in fair condition. The baleen stiffening has prevented extensive creasing to the stomacher. There are large areas of fabric loss, particularly in the yellow silk (that would have covered the front) which is so abraded that it is barely visible. A slit has formed where the central seam has opened up. As mentioned above, one of the characteristics of garments found concealed in buildings is that they are often in poor condition. This soiled, creased and fragmentary state invites several explanations. One is that garments with signs of wear may have been preferred for concealment. Swann has noted that most shoes found in caches bear the imprint of the wearer(s). Another is that garments were deliberately damaged before being concealed;4 this is consistent with practices of deliberate damage known within archaeology as ‘ritual killing’, which may make the selected items unsuitable for removal for alternative purposes and/or make them more effective as agents of protection. Whatever the explanation, I N F O R M I N G T E X T I L E A N D W I L D L I F E C O N S E R VAT I O N : D N A A N A LY S I S O F B A L E E N Figure 1 The stomacher (TCC 2674.1) showing the yellow silk layer. Figure 2 The stomacher (TCC 2674.1) showing the printed linen layer. (Plate 7 in the colour plate section.) the poor condition of many once-concealed garments provides ready access to the internal construction and materials of lined and multilayered garments; in the case of the Nether Wallop stomacher it made some of the baleen strips readily accessible for examination and sampling. At the suggestion of dress historian Kay Staniland, DNA analysis of the baleen was considered. Following consultation with the owner of the stomacher, the decision was made to remove a sample of the baleen for DNA analysis.5 DNA analysis It is now 50 years since the discovery of the DNA double helix was reported by Watson and Crick6 and the study of the DNA molecule has revolutionised our understanding of biology. DNA as an investigative tool came to public attention when Alec Jeffreys (now Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys) published his system for the DNA fingerprinting of humans (Jeffreys et al. 1985). This publication has made a major contribution to forensic investigations and criminal prosecutions. For non-human animals, the analysis of genetic information in the form of DNA sequences or DNA fingerprints opens up a major new field in wildlife ecology and conservation. Such genetic information can elucidate ecological variables such as the identification of species, identification of individuals, sex determination, parentage, population origin, and population size (e.g. Palsbøll 1999). In addition, measurable indices of the genetic health of individuals, populations or species can also be inferred, allowing conservation workers a basic unit with which to assess the relative genetic health between species (Frankam et al. 2002). Tissue collection is a prerequisite for genetic analysis, but cells can be collected either invasively, when cells are forcibly removed from an animal (e.g. a plucked hair) or non-invasively (e.g. via shed skin or faeces), without harming an animal. The potential for releasing DNA from historical or even ancient samples held at museums was realised in the 1980s (Higuchi et al. 1984; Paabo 1985) although it was noted that such DNA Figure 3 X-radiograph of the stomacher (TCC 2674.1) showing the baleen strips. was typically fragmented to short lengths. This fragmentation of the DNA molecule fortunately keeps Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park fictional,7 however, small fragments of DNA can still be particularly informative to wildlife ecologists (e.g. Higuchi et al. 1984). DNA from whales Large baleen whales are an excellent model species to investigate using genetic analysis. Representatives of the so-called ‘flagship species’, that is, a species which excites the general public’s interest, they are fully marine and direct observation is difficult and expensive. They are migratory, often travelling hundreds of miles between feeding and calving grounds, and were extensively hunted over a period of several hundred years, leaving many species vulnerable to extinction. Over the last decade, all the large baleen whale species have been surveyed to some extent using genetic markers, so an extensive genetic database exists of contemporary populations. As reducing a population size can have a resulting effect on the levels of genetic diversity maintained in that population, however, a measure of pre-exploitation diversity is required to assess any change as a consequence of exploitation. A reduction in genetic diversity typically has the result of lowering the animal’s evolutionary potential, i.e. its long-term ability to respond to stochastic (randomly determined) environmental events. DNA from museum collections Constructing a genetic database from pre-whaling populations relies on representative samples being available – and being made available by museum curators. Previous work in this field has been carried out using dried samples of baleen plate (Kimura et al. 1997). Museums typically have only a single, or few, representative baleen samples for each species, far fewer than ideally required for a reliable comparison. One way to augment the low number of baleen samples from natural history collections is to use baleen recovered 163 D I N A H E A S TO P A N D R O S S M c E W I N G from historical textile collections. Baleen (sometimes erroneously termed ‘whalebone’) has been used for the construction of clothing, armour and baskets (Waugh 1954; Lauffenburger 1993). As part of a wider study, a protocol was devised that could isolate DNA from historical samples of baleen (McEwing 2003), despite its often extensive industrial processing prior to use (Stevenson 1907). DNA begins to break down into fragments from the moment an organism dies, and fragmentation continues over time. So older samples (of baleen in this case) are likely to be more fragmented than younger specimens. One consequence is that DNA extraction from older specimens is likely to be more difficult and may require larger samples. DNA analysis is a destructive technique, i.e. a sample of the material under investigation has to be removed for analysis and the sample is destroyed during the process of DNA extraction. In the case of the Nether Wallop stomacher, the maximum dimensions of the available sample of baleen were 27 × 7 × 1 mm (Fig. 4). Opinions about sampling historic material and sample size vary: from the perspective of DNA analysis, this is considered a small sample; from a curatorial or conservation perspective, this may be considered a large sample. As techniques of extraction and analysis are developed further, it is likely that sample size required for baleen analysis can be reduced. It is even possible that in the future a form of non-destructive in situ DNA analysis may be developed, although this is a long way off. In the meantime, decisions about sampling and sample size will remain an important issue for discussion between custodians of collections and DNA analysts when assessing whether or not to proceed with DNA analysis of baleen. DNA analysis of baleen from the Nether Wallop stomacher As part of the study of the Nether Wallop stomacher noted above (Barbieri 2003), a loose fragment of baleen from the stomacher was submitted for DNA analysis. The sample was pre-cleaned to remove human and other organism DNA contamination, ground in liquid nitrogen then digested with protein-dissolving enzymes (McEwing 2003). A fragment of the control region gene from the mitochondrial genome was amplified via the polymerase chain reaction (Saiki et al. 1988) and the gene fragment sequenced using laser detection of fluorescent labelled nucleotides.8 The recovered sequence was compared to type examples of homologous gene fragments from all extant baleen whale species and the originating species identified using both a sequence similarity9 (Table 1) and phylogenetic affinity approach (Baker et al. 1996). The baleen sample was unambiguously identified as originating from a right whale, Eubalaena sp. Currently there are at least two, more likely three, subspecies of right whale (Rosenbaum et al. 2000a), all with discrete geographical ranges. As each of these subpopulations has been genetically studied, there exist a number of nucleotide positions that can discriminate between these subpopulations (Rosenbaum et al. 2000a). The Nether Wallop stomacher baleen sample was consistent with a North Atlantic provenance (Table 2) and was therefore identified as Eubalaena glacialis, the North Atlantic right whale. 164 Figure 4 Fragment of baleen strip from which mtDNA was extracted. The North Atlantic right whale is classed as critically endangered10 as a result of whaling since the 11th century ad (Cummings 1985) and shows no signs of a population recovery. Despite being previously geographically widespread throughout the North Atlantic, only a single population is now believed to exist on the eastern seaboard of North America numbering less than 350 individuals. Models of population viability, where reproductive rate and mortality are measured, have predicted that extinction is likely within 200 years (Caswell et al. 1999). The North Atlantic right whale has been extensively studied as a result of its current population status including extensive genetic fingerprinting for almost every individual within this population. These genetic studies have shown that the levels of genetic diversity in this species are considerably lower than other baleen whale species with the entire current population consisting of only five maternal lineages (Malik et al. 2000).11 In a previous study in which five historical museum samples of North Atlantic right whale baleen, dating back to 1885, were DNA tested, no new maternal lineages were observed, leading to a suggestion by the authors that perhaps recent whaling had not been responsible for any loss of genetic diversity in this species (Rosenbaum et al. 2000b). The DNA sequence recovered from the Nether Wallop stomacher sample was compared to the five maternal lineages observed in the current population and found to be unique; it was therefore classified as a sixth maternal lineage now extinct, lost as a consequence of excessive whaling. These data were consistent with another textile baleen sample that yielded yet another previously unidentified seventh maternal lineage, also now extinct (McEwing 2003). Significance of these results for wildlife conservation When a population undergoes a dramatic decline in numbers, such as the populations of baleen whales, this is often referred I N F O R M I N G T E X T I L E A N D W I L D L I F E C O N S E R VAT I O N : D N A A N A LY S I S O F B A L E E N Table 1 Sequence similarity results for baleen (from stomacher, TCC2674.1). Similarity score TCC 2674.1 Percentage Number of Number of match matches mismatches Balaenoptera acutorostrata 1440 53% 242 58 Balaenoptera acutorostrata 1560 59% 248 52 Balaenoptera bonarensis 1380 69% 241 59 Balaenoptera borealis 1370 57% 238 63 Balaenoptera borealis 1310 56% 235 66 Balaenoptera edeni 1340 56% 236 64 Balaenoptera edeni 1340 56% 236 64 Balaenoptera edeni 1480 57% 239 61 Balaenoptera edeni pygmy 1380 57% 243 57 Balaenoptera musculus 1530 57% 242 55 Balaenoptera musculus 1470 57% 239 58 Balaenoptera musculus 1510 57% 241 56 Balaenoptera musculus 1510 58% 244 55 Balaenoptera musculus 2530 69% 277 24 Balaenoptera physalus 1460 57% 237 63 Balaenoptera physalus 1480 57% 238 62 Balaenoptera physalus 1520 58% 240 60 Eubalaena glacialis 3000 75% 301 1 Eschrichtius robustus 1440 57% 240 58 Eschrichtius robustus 1470 58% 245 52 Eschrichtius robustus 1380 56% 239 59 Megaptera novaeangliae 1240 57% 237 47 Megaptera novaeangliae 1260 58% 240 44 Table 2 Geographical origin of right whale haplotypes (after Rosenbaum et al. 2000b). [n] = number of individual whales sampled.) Nucleotide position Haplotype / Ocean [n] 908 914 920 928 957 975 976 977 993 994 1009 1011 1066 1157 1158 North Atlantic (A) [35] A A T C A A T C T G C A A T C North Atlantic (B) [3] A A T C A A C T T A C A A T C North Atlantic (C) [75] A A T C A A C T T A C A A T C North Atlantic (D) [117] A A T C A A C T T A C A A T C North Atlantic (E) [39] A A T C A G C T C G C A A T C TCC 2674.1 [1] A A T C A G C T T G C A A T C North Pacific [12] G G C T G * * * * * C G T T C Southern Hemisphere [99] G A C T A * * * * * T G A C T to as a demographic bottleneck. Demographic bottlenecks can be common and relatively short term with the population recovering quickly to previous numbers but occasionally numbers are reduced to such low levels that ecological factors prevent population recovery. Such factors are often referred to as Allee effects;12 a common example is the difficulty experienced by some wide-ranging animals in finding a mate when their population has been reduced. Allee effects can compound the initial demographic contraction of a population, hampering recovery and thus leading to the possibility of population extinction. As discussed above, an additional complication is the correlation of genetic diversity with animal fitness. As genetic diversity is lost from a population, its potential to adapt and recover to stochastic environmental processes is reduced. In a healthy population, a short demographic bottleneck is unlikely to reduce the genetic diversity of that population as surviving individuals can hold two copies of each gene (one maternally and one paternally inherited); these genes are then reshuffled as the population recovers to previous numbers. If the demographic bottleneck is both prolonged and severe, however, then genes at low frequency are lost from the population and genetic diversity is lowered. Unlike most other hunted whales, the North Atlantic right whales have failed to recover from the demographic bottleneck induced by whaling, probably as a result of Allee effects. We have demonstrated for the first time that in addition to a demographic bottleneck being imposed on baleen whales, a genetic bottleneck has also been imposed on the North Atlan165 D I N A H E A S TO P A N D R O S S M c E W I N G tic right whale, resulting in the loss of maternal lineages as a direct result of whaling. North Atlantic right whales have therefore been dealt a double blow, an observation that could explain their impending extinction. The loss of genetic diversity from this species would have been missed had samples of baleen not been made available from historical textile collections. Previous studies using museum samples of baleen failed to identify any additional lineages, probably as a result of the limited sample size available for analysis. Historical baleen recovered from well-documented textiles could be of major importance in aiding future conservation strategies by identifying the whale species and geographical populations hunted, and lineage extinctions in such species. Conclusions This paper has demonstrated that garments found deliberately concealed in buildings, which are vulnerable to loss or damage when mistaken for rubbish, have huge evidential potential. The techniques of X-radiography and DNA typing have provided insights into the history of the materials and the manufacture of one such find – an 18th-century stomacher. This garment provided an accessible source of 18th-century baleen, the analysis of which has provided evidence for a previously unrecorded mitochondrial lineage of North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena glacialis. The inclusion of a boned garment in the Nether Wallop cache is not unique, with several other examples already identified. Further DNA analysis of baleen is planned, subject to funding and consent from the custodians of garments selected for testing. Garments deliberately concealed in buildings are providing fascinating opportunities for fruitful interdisciplinary cooperation as well as useful data for both textile and wildlife conservation. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank: Kay Staniland (independent scholar, formerly Curator of Costume and Textiles, Museum of London), for generous advice and infectious enthusiasm for baleen; textile conservator Gabriella Barbieri for using her MA dissertation to explore the ‘object biography’ model for analyzing and documenting the stomacher; Charlotte Dew, Project Development Officer, for contributing to the effective development of the DCGP; the Natural Environment Research Council; the Skaggs Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Board for supporting the DCGP (the latter most recently via the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies); Mrs Maynard and Nell Hoare, Director of the TCC, for permission to publish. Notes 1. The DCGP (www.concealedgarments.org) builds on previous work notably that of June Swann who, while working on the footwear collections in Northampton, initiated an index of onceconcealed shoes (Swann 1969, 1996). She worked closely with Ralph Merrifield (1987) and Timothy Easton (1995). 166 2. The term ‘cache’ is used to describe a group of hidden objects. 3. The stomacher was X-rayed at the University of Bradford by Sonia O’Connor, Research Fellow in Conservation, AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. For further information see Barbieri (2003) and Brooks and O’Connor (this volume, pp. 168–76). 4. Miriam Duffield is investigating such deliberate damage for her MA textile conservation dissertation (TCC/University of Southampton). The working title of her dissertation, as at July 2004, is Documenting Intentional Damage and Evidence of Wear in 3–4 Deliberately Concealed Garments. 5. DNA analysis was carried out by Wildlife DNA Services, University of Wales at Bangor, UK. 6. Although Rosalind Franklin first identified the DNA structure, James Watson and Francis Crick were the first to publish (Watson and Crick 1953). 7. Michael Crichton’s novel Jurassic Park (1993) saw the return of dinosaurs created from ancient DNA. 8. The DNA sequence was resolved using an Applied Biosystems ABI377 DNA PRISM automated sequencer. 9. The sequence similarity method was suggested by Andrew Dizon, Southwest Fisheries, USA, and uses a weighted scoring system to calculate the number of matches versus the number of mismatches in a pairwise test between the unknown species sequence and a type sequence from all other baleen whale species (see McEwing 2003). 10. IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) 2003. Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist. org). 11. For comparison, the North Atlantic fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, has at least 47 maternal lineages (Bérubé et al. 1998). 12. The Allee effects are named after the evolutionary biologist, W. C. Allee, who noted a positive relationship between fitness and population size. References Baker, C. S., Cipriano, F. and Palumbi, S. R. 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Washington, DC: Department of Commerce and Labor, Government Printing Office. Swann, J. (1969) ‘Shoes concealed in buildings’, Northampton County Borough Museums and Art Gallery Journal 6: 8–21. Swann, J. (1996) ‘Shoes concealed in buildings’, Costume (The Journal of the Costume Society) 30: 56–69. Thomas, K. (1971) Religion and the Decline of Magic. New York: Charles Scrivener’s Sons. Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. (1953) ‘A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid’, Nature 171: 737. Waugh, N. (1954) Corsets and Crinolines. London: Taylor and Francis. The authors • Dinah Eastop has worked at the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton since 1976 as a conservator, departmental manager, conservation teacher and Director (1988–1991). She initiated the Deliberately Concealed Garments Project (DCGP). • Ross McEwing is Director of Wildlife DNA Services Ltd and Honorary Research Associate, School of Biological Science, University of Wales, Bangor. His current research includes genotyping of captive and wild raptor species (DEFRA) and immunoassay detection of bear products (WISPA). Addresses • Corresponding author: Dinah Eastop, Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton, Winchester Campus, Park Avenue, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8DL, UK ([email protected]). • Ross McEwing, Wildlife DNA Services Limited, University of Wales, Bangor, UK. 167