Lion faecal samples, collected in the field between 1 hour to 1 week after defecation were preserved in three different media (ethanol, ASL buffer and Two-step storage). The aim was to determine which faecal DNA field preservation method best enhances PCR amplification success. Samples stored in ethanol showed a significantly higher amplification success of microsatellite loci than samples stored in the other two media. In contrast, amplification success of a mitochondrial locus was similar among the samples stored in the three types of media. We reviewed twelve previous studies that employed different media for the storage of faeces, although patterns of success were not fully consistent among different media, ethanol storage was scored highest in the majority of these tests [Current Zoology 60 (3): 351-358, 2014].Keywords Amplification success, Faecal sample DNA, Lion Panthera leo, PCR, Preservation medium For small and elusive wildlife populations, noninvasive DNA sampling from faecal samples is a feasible method for obtaining genetic data (Kohn and Wayne, 1997). Several studies have employed this method to estimate and monitor wildlife (Kohn et al., 1999;Ernest et al., 2000;Banks et al., 2002, Flagstad et al., 2004, Bensch et al., 2006Perez et al., 2006;Zhang et al., 2009). For elusive carnivores such as lions Panthera leo non-invasive sampling is especially suitable because faecal samples are easily encountered and recovered along trails where they defecate to mark territory boundaries (Macdonald, 1980). However, studies that employ non-invasive sampling are confronted with pitfalls such as low quantity and quality DNA which can result in low genotyping success and frequent genotyping errors (Taberlet et al., 1997).The amount and quality of DNA initially present in faeces samples at the time of collection may change during the period of storage and will determine the amount and quality of DNA that can be extracted and used in downstream analyses. It is therefore important to transfer samples into a storage condition that best preserves the DNA prior to the laboratory analysis. The choice of a good preservation medium should be of prime importance for every genetic study, especially when collected samples cannot be processed immediately at the collection site. The identification of effective preservation methods can enhance PCR amplification success rate, increase genotyping accuracy and increase the feasibility of using faecal DNA for genetic studies.Faecal DNA has so far mainly been used in studies of mammals and less often for studies of birds (Idaghdour et al., 2003;Regnaut et al., 2006). In mammals, DNA has been recovered from faeces that were preserved dried (Höss et al., 1992;Kohn et al., 1995;Foran et al., 1997;Taberlet et al., 1997), in 70% ethanol (Höss, 1992;Kohn et al., 1995), in 99%-100% ethanol (Gerloff et al., 1995) and frozen at -20°C (Reed et al., 1997).Several studies have evaluated the relative genotyping success from two or more preservation media (Wasser et al., 1997;Frantzen et...