The quantum leaps made by science in mapping the mysterious intricacies of DNA have been put to good use by scientists of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, currently engaged in a comprehensive population genetic study of free-ranging elephants in South India. But what's a surprising, first-of-its-kind step is the fact that the DNA samples used in the study were extracted from elephant dung, instead of the usual sources like tissue and blood samples. The study, conducted by IISc scientist T.N.C. Vidya and others, has revealed a hitherto unknown fact: the elephants of the Nilgiri range, which sprawls over 15,000 square kilometers, are genetically distinct at both mitochondrial and microsatellite markers from the two more southerly populations, Anamalai and Periyar. But these latter groups of elephants are not genetically different from each other.