Assessing Nutritional Condition of Mule Deer Using a Photographic Index
ABSTRACT Understanding nutritional condition of animals can provide insight into underlying drivers of population dynamics. To estimate nutritional condition, indices require capture or mortality of animals to obtain measurements of body fat. Advances in technology provide an opportunity to acquire...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Wildlife Society Bulletin |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.1070 |
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| Summary: | ABSTRACT Understanding nutritional condition of animals can provide insight into underlying drivers of population dynamics. To estimate nutritional condition, indices require capture or mortality of animals to obtain measurements of body fat. Advances in technology provide an opportunity to acquire estimates of nutritional condition in a noninvasive way if ocular estimates can be validated. We developed and evaluated a noninvasive, visual index of nutritional condition for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) intended to be applied to camera‐trap images or videos. Our index was based on the visibility of 4 skeletal regions that are covered in varying amounts of subcutaneous fat depending upon the nutritional condition of the animal. We compared the visual index of nutritional condition to estimates of percent ingesta‐free body fat (IFBFat) obtained from ultrasonography and physical palpation of captured mule deer (n = 89) in western Wyoming, USA, in December 2015, March 2016, and November 2018. Our visual index of nutritional condition related positively to IFBFat (r2 = 0.41). Although further refinement may be warranted to increase predictive power of visual estimates, use of visual approaches to estimate nutritional condition can enhance knowledge that can be gained with a minimal budget, or where more invasive approaches are not possible. © 2020 The Wildlife Society. |
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| ISSN: | 2328-5540 |