Moss bounds happily through the bush showing the usual exuberance of a young labrador. Despite this looking like play, he is on a serious mission to help fight the extinction of some of our mostcritically endangered species.

Moss is a detection dog in training. Unlike other detection dogs, who might sniff out drugs or explosives, he'll be finding some of Victoria's smallest, best camouflaged and most elusive animals.

These dogs use their exceptional olfactory senses to locate everything from koalashigh in the trees, desert tortoisesburrowed deep under soiland evenwhales often more effectively than any human team could aspire to.

What makes Moss unique, however, is he'll not only find endangered species in the wild, but will also be part of a larger team helping endangered species breed in captivity. These dogs will be the first in the world to do this, starting with a ground-breaking trial with Tasmanian devils.

Moss will eventually help find the tiny, cryptic Baw Baw Frog in the wild.

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Wildlife detection dogs are a veryrare type of dog they are highly motivated, engaged and energetic, but also incredibly reliable and safe around thesmallest of creatures.

And Moss is the first dog to join Zoos Victoria'sDetection Dog squad, a permanent group of highly trained dogs that will live at Healesville Sanctuary.

Moss was adopted at 14 months old, after he somewhat "failed" at being a family pet. He is a hurricane of energy with an intelligent and playful mind. He's thriving with a job to keep him occupied and new challenges for his busy brain.

One sign he was perfect for this program was his indifference to the free range chickens at his foster home. For obvious reasons, a dog who likes chasing chickens wouldn't be a good candidate for protecting some of Australia's rarest feathered treasures.

Moss will also help monitor incredibly well camouflaged plains-wanderers, which are nearly impossible to spot in the day.

Currently Moss is learning crucial foundational skills, and getting plenty of exposure to different environments. Equally important, he is developing a deep bond and trust with his handlers.

The detection dog-handler bond is crucial not only for his happiness, but also for working success and longevity. Research from 2018 found a strong bond between a handler and their dog dramaticallyimproved the dog's detection results and reduced signs of stress.

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Healesville Sanctuarybreeds endangered Tasmanian Devils every yearas part of aninsurance programto support conservation and research. This program is crucial to helpprotect the devilfollowing an estimated 80% decline in the wild due to a horrific transmissible cancer,Devil Facial Tumour Disease.

But managing a predator that's shy, nocturnal and prefers to be left alone can be tricky.

Wildlife, including Tasmanian devils, need a hands-off approach where possible, so they canmaintain natural behavioursand thrive in their environment.

Tasmanian devils prefer to be left alone.Healesville Sanctuary,Author provided

In the wild, devils leave scats (faeces) at communal latrine sites and usescent for communication. Male devils can tell a female is ready to mate by smelling her scat. And we think dogs could be trained to detect this, too.

We aim to train dogs to detect an odour profile in the collected scat of female devils coming into their receptive (oestrus) periods, so we can introduce females and suitable males to breed at the optimal time. The odour profile will be further verified via laboratory analyses of hormones in the scats.

The project will also explore whether dogs can detect pregnancy and lactation in the devils.

Currently, the best way to determine if a female has young is to look in her pouch, but our preference is to remain at a distance during this important time while females settle into being new mums.

Moss with his trainer, Latoya. Moss is a ball of energy and thrives in the challenging environment of conservation detection.Healesville Sanctuary,Author provided

If the dogs are able to smell a scat sample (while never coming into contact with the devil) and identify that a female is lactating with small joeys in her pouch, we can support her for example, by increasing her food while keeping a comfortable distance.

The results from this devil breeding research could offer innovative new options for endangered species breeding programs around the world.

Wildlife detection in the field means we can more accurately monitor some of our most critically endangered species, and quickly assess the impact of catastrophic events such asbushfires.

Detection dogs are the perfect intermediary between people and wildlife they can sniff out what we can't and communicate with us as a team.

And over the next few years, the Detection Dog Squad will expand to five full-time canines. They will all be selected based on their personalities rather than specific breeds, so will likely come in all shapes and sizes.

Dogs may yet go from being man's best friend to the devil's best friend and beyond, all starting with a happy labrador named Moss.

La Toya Jamieson and Marissa Parrott both work for Zoos Victoria. This article is co-authored by Naomi Hodgens and Dr Kim Miller, also from Zoos Victoria. It first appeared on The Conversation.

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Detection dogs can help endangered native wildlife find a mate - ABC News