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Pellet morphometry as a tool to distinguish age and sex in the mule deer
Author(s) -
SánchezRojas Gerardo,
Gallina Sonia,
Equihua Miguel
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
zoo biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1098-2361
pISSN - 0733-3188
DOI - 10.1002/zoo.10119
Subject(s) - biology , discriminant function analysis , linear discriminant analysis , cluster (spacecraft) , pellet , captivity , odocoileus , population , cluster analysis , demography , statistics , zoology , mathematics , computer science , sociology , programming language
Abstract By examining the morphometry (i.e., length, width, length‐to‐width ratio, and volume) of pellets in three different categories (adult males, adult females, and yearlings) mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ), we were able to distinguish via discriminant function and fuzzy clustering analyses the age and sex of these animals. To determine a priori the identity of the pellet samples and evaluate the accuracy of our methods, we obtained samples from individuals in captivity. The discriminant function allowed us to correctly assign 100% of adult males, 91.66% of adult females, and 75% of yearlings to an age class, using previous information. The fuzzy clustering method enabled us to correctly distinguish 100% of adult males, 83.3% of adult females, and 75% of yearlings. The methods are based upon different assumptions. An important assumption with the discriminant function method is that the membership of each pellet group must be established a priori. This may be a disadvantage in certain cases, such as when pellet samples are gathered for an indirect population assessment procedure. Despite this drawback, however, both methods appear to be highly accurate. Zoo Biol 23:139–146, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.