Top | CV | Publications | Study | Gallery
Hanya G, Naito S, Namioka E, Ueda Y, Sato Y, Pastrana JA, He T, Yan X, Saito M, Costa RFP, Allanic M, Honda T, Kurihara Y, Yumoto T, Hayakawa T (2017) Morphometric and genetic determination of age class and sex for fecal pellets of sika deer (Cervus nippon). Mammal Study 42: 239-246.
Abstract
We aimed to validate a method to identify age class and sex of sika deer
(Cervus nippon), which defecate fecal pellets. We collected 42 and 54 fecal samples in
Nara and Yakushima, respectively. Both pellet width and length were significantly
larger for adults than juveniles (1~1.5 yrs). A discriminant model based
on both width and length correctly assigned an age class for 92% of individuals
in Nara and 98% in Yakushima. We genetically determined their sex based
on the gel electrophoresis of two genes on sex chromosomes (SRY and ZFX/Y) amplified by PCR. For fresh feces, sex was not determined for 40% of
the samples, but for the rest of the samples, sex was correctly assigned
in almost all cases (28/29). However, sex was not determined in any of
the samples that were analyzed at a half month or later after defecation.
The proportion of young individuals could be estimated by the morphometry
of fecal pellets, but the sex of the animals could not be confirmed.
Key words: census; fecal pellet count; sika deer; ungulate
<Written by: Goro Hanya (hanya.goro.5z<atmark>kyoto-u.ac.jp)>
<Contact: Goro Hanya (hanya.goro.5z<atmark>kyoto-u.ac.jp)>
<Last update: December 27, 2017>