With their specially trained noses and keen sense of smell, Daisy, Sugar and Kip are among the few animal warriors offering the last hope to saving a "dragon" thought to have been extinct.
The trio of wildlife detection dogs are among a select team trained to sniff out the critically endangered Victorian grassland earless dragon, which is listed as the most imperilled reptile in Australia.
The lizard species was thought to have been extinct for more than 50 years before it was rediscovered in 2023 in grasslands west of Melbourne.
Conservationists at Zoos Victoria are turning to novel ways to track down other remaining dragons to conserve them, and possibly other, imperilled cryptic reptile species.
Daisy and Kip were the first two dogs to go through 12 months of canine classroom, graduating with flying colours after they located 13 lizards in the wild.
It was an overwhelming cascade of joy and euphoria when Daisy sniffed out her first dragon after searching for six to eight months, wildlife detection dog officer Nick Rutter said.
"Daisy and I were doing a survey like we had done before so many times and she alerted to a little hole in the ground," he said.
"I quickly got up my endoscope and fed the camera down the hole and there was this tiny, adorable little dragon face staring back at me.
"It was just the most incredible feeling."
The dogs had a high level of success finding the species in the wild, regardless of season, temperature or breeding cycles after being taught to scent the dragons and their scats.
Dr Rutter emphasised the close bonds needed between dog and handler because of the limited training opportunities given the rarity of finding a lizard.
The Victorian grassland earless dragon was once common in grasslands west of Melbourne, but their numbers dwindled because of habitat loss and predators such as foxes and feral cats.
Zoos Victoria project co-lead Chris Hartnett said establishing ways to train the dogs to find the dragon provided researchers with crucial data about the species' population, ecology and habitat use.
"By locating more dragons, we can help save them from extinction through our conservation-breeding program and by establishing a larger insurance population," she said.
A second phase of the project will involve the dogs and their handlers searching new locations and expanding their repertoire to three more endangered dragon species, the Canberra grassland earless dragon, the Monaro grassland earless dragon and the Bathurst grassland earless dragon.
