Scientists say a dog found life ‘once existed’ on Mars

Australian scientists said today that a dog with a nose for sewage had found evidence that life once, and may still, exist on Mars. Biophysicist Tony Taylor said his mongrel had sniffed out bacteria in mud from Queensland state that matched fossils of primitive organisms in a Martian meteorite which plunged into Antarctica 13,000 years ago.

This backed a theory by Nasa scientists who examined the potato-sized meteorite, called ALH84001, after it was retrieved in 1984 and concluded 12 years later that life existed on Mars. Taylor said his 13-year-old dingo-kelpie cross named Tamarind had unearthed the mud-bound bacteria while sniffing around in the ooze at Moreton Bay on the Queensland coast in 1990s.

‘‘She’s comes along on all my field trips,’’ Taylor said, explaining he had taught the dog to sniff out sediments containing specific bacteria. ‘‘It smells like sewage and she knows the word stinky’.’’

Taylor, who works at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Sydney, said he and colleague professor John Barry examined 82 different bacteria retrieved from the area identified by the dog and discovered they contained 11 characteristics also found in the Mars fossils, including a structure other scientists claimed could only be formed in intense heat.