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Kidney fat and marrow fat indices of the sika deer population at Mount Goyo, northern Japan
Author(s) -
Takatsuki Seiki
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1703.2000.00365.x
Subject(s) - biology , population , femur , kidney , bone marrow , zoology , medicine , endocrinology , immunology , paleontology , environmental health
Fat deposits are effective indicators of the nutritional status of wild populations of ungulates. Three fat indices (kidney fat, femur marrow fat and mandible marrow fat) of sika deer ( Cervus nippon ) at Mount Goyo, northern Japan, were compared. The kidney fat index (KFI) was suitable for good and intermediate nutritional status, but could not precisely reflect poor conditions. Bone marrow fat indices (MFI) were not good indicators because samples with high MFI values did not distinguish between samples whose KFI values were different, and samples collected in non‐winter seasons did not cover the range of poor conditions. It is therefore recommended to use both the KFI and the femur‐MFI complementarily.