Follow the 2015 Constantine S. Niarchos Expedition to Cambodia in search of Haemadipsida—a family of terrestrial leeches that feed on the blood of mammals.
While the main purpose of the trip was to document leech biodiversity in Southeast Asia, the expedition was designed to sample DNA from the blood of these leeches mammalian meals. Back at the Museum, that DNA was sequenced and fed into a database that identifies biological sequences. These “IDNA” tests provide conservationists with a valuable snapshot of species living in an area.