scholarly journals Improved Trapping and Handling of an Arboreal, Montane Mammal: Red Panda Ailurus fulgens

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 921
Author(s):  
Damber Bista ◽  
Sonam Tashi Lama ◽  
Janno Weerman ◽  
Ang Phuri Sherpa ◽  
Purushotam Pandey ◽  
...  

It is sometimes essential to have an animal in the hand to study some of their ecological and biological characteristics. However, capturing a solitary, cryptic, elusive arboreal species such as the red panda in the wild is challenging. We developed and successfully tested a protocol for tracking, trapping, immobilization, and handling of red pandas in the wild in eastern Nepal. We established a red panda sighting rate of 0.89 panda/day with a capture success rate of 0.6. We trapped and collared one animal in 3.7 days. On average, we took nearly 136 (range 50–317) min to capture an animal after spotting it. Further processing was completed in 38.5 (21–70) min. Before capture, we found it difficult to recognize the sex of the red panda and to differentiate sub-adults above six months from adults. However, body weight, body length, tail length, shoulder height, and chest girth can be used for diagnosis, as these attributes are smaller in sub-adults. Our method is a welfare-friendly way of trapping and handling wild red pandas. We report new morphometric data that could serve as a guide for field identification.

Author(s):  
M. Rani ◽  
B. Ekambaram ◽  
B. Punya Kumari

Data on 1350 Nellore sheep of 2, 4, 6 and 8-teeth age, reared under field conditions in 12 mandals of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were utilized for development of prediction equations and study the phenotypic association among body measurements and body weights. The coefficients of correlation between body weight with the height at withers, chest girth, paunch girth, hip width and body length were positive and high in magnitude in both males and females in majority of the age groups studied. Step-down regression equations were fitted to predict the body weight based on biometrical measurements at different ages. The height at withers, chest girth, paunch girth, hip width and body length have contributed significantly to the expression of body weights at the majority of the ages studied. High coefficient of determination (R2) value was observed in males at 6 and 8-teeth age as 88 per cent, while in females 50 per cent at 2-teeth age.


Author(s):  
D. Chakraborty ◽  
K. Mehdi Khan ◽  
N. Kumar ◽  
Isfaq Faried ◽  
Rajan Sharma ◽  
...  

Majority of the Kargil sheep populations are indigenous. Very scanty information is available for morphological characterization of Purky sheep population. Therefore, the present study was undertaken with the objectives to study the morpho-metric characteristics and body measurements for phenotypic characterization of the local sheep. A stratified random sample survey was conducted on various parameters (horn size, tail size, chest girth, punch girth, body length, height at wither and body weight) in seven different age groups. Data were collected randomly from 510 sheep of either sex. The local sheep population of Kargil which was selected for the present investigation is named as ‘Purky’ by the name of the community that reared this breed. In Purky sheep white body colour was predominant in both the sexes. The sheep breed was of low to medium body weight. The chest girth, punch girth, height at withers of Purky sheep showed it to be medium sized. Sex had significant effect (P is less than 0.05) on height at wither only. For males the least squares means were higher for all the traits of all age groups baring few exceptions. The phenotypic correlations of age groups with different morpho-metric traits were very high. The phenotypic correlations of body weight with other body measurements like tail size, chest girth, paunch girth, body length and height at wither were very high. Further studies should be carried out to fully exploit their genetic potential and to register the breed and in-situ conservation of this population.


1995 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
S. C. Mehta ◽  
P. K. Vij ◽  
B. K. Joshi ◽  
R. Sahai ◽  
A. E. Nivsarkar

SUMMARYObservations were recorded on morphological characteristics, body weights and body measurements of 344 Malpura sheep belonging to nine age groups during a survey conducted in 18 randomly selected villages of three blocks of the Chittorgarh district of Rajastha. The body weights at birth, 1, 3, 6 and 9 months and adult weight averaged 3.3, 6.7±0.88, 12.9±0.71, 16.4±0.71, 21.0±1.00 and 31.4 kg respectively. Height, body length, chest girth, paunch girth, face length, face width, tail length and ear length of adult Malpura sheep averaged 63.6, 66.8, 77.1, 80.9, 20.7, 9.8, 30.3 and 6.3 cm respectively. Sex of the animal had significant effect on weight, height, body length and chest girth at 8 teeth stage. Phenotypic correlations of body weight with height, chest girth and paunch girth ranged from 0.76±0.04 to 0.88±0.03 and regression of weight on these body measurements ranged from 0.63±0.02 to 0.98±0.05.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-319
Author(s):  
Shamia Farhana Shoma ◽  
Mohammed Mostafa Feeroz ◽  
Md Kamrul Hasan

A study was conducted on morphometry of Asian House Shrew, Suncus murinus at Jahangirnagar University campus, Savar, Dhaka from December, 2010 to November, 2011. A total of 85 shrews (55 males and 30 females) were studied for morphometric analysis. The body length of shrews varied from 13cm to 18 cm (mean 15.36, sd±1.17). Males were significantly differed from females in size which made them sexually dimorphic (t = 10.02, df = 83, p< 0.005). The body length of males ranged from 14.5 cm to 18 cm (mean = 16, sd±0.82) and in females it ranged from 13 cm to 15.5 cm (mean = 14.19, sd±0.74). The body weight of shrews varied from 45 gm to 138 gm (mean = 85.52, sd±25.6). The weight of males ranged from 65 gm to 138 gm (mean = 99.6, sd±20.03) whereas the body weight of females ranged from 45 gm to 82 gm (mean = 59.73, sd±10.54). Body length was positively correlated to the body weight (r = 0.917) as well as tail length (r = 0.673) and limbs length (forelimb length, r = 0.875 and hindlimb length, r = 0.971) and found to be significant at 1% level of significance.Bangladesh J. Zool. 43(2): 313-319, 2015


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-21
Author(s):  
B. I. Umoh ◽  
U. M. Okon ◽  
J. S. Ekpo

Body weight of animals in the rural areas has not been accurately ascertained due to lack of accurate measurement scales, hence this experiment. The study was conducted to determine the correlation between milk intake and body weight with linear body measurements in white Fulani calves raised in semi-intensive system of management. A total of seven (7) white Fulani calves managed semi-intensively was used for the study. The experiment lasted 12 weeks. The overall mean±SEM value for milk intake, body weight, neck circumference, neck length, body length, body circumference, girth circumference, height at wither and tail length were 1.20±0.40g, 5.18±1.02kg, 21.54±0.66cm, 13.23±0.21cm, 28.36±0.31cm, 36.41±0.43cm, 35.84±0.37cm, 35.87±0.43cm and 23.43±0.39cm respectively. There was significant (P<0.05) effect of lactation stage on all body measurements taken except for neck circumference and tail length. Correlation between all body pairs of measurements were high, positive and highly significant (P<0.05). The highest correlation was recorded for body length, body circumference, girth circumference and height at wither. Linear function provided the best fit for milk intake weight and linear body measurements indicating that body measurements can be used for selection and the estimation of body weight in the fields where accurate scales are not usually available. It is recommended that any of the body measurement parameters could be used in the estimation of the body weight. Also, an improvement of non-genetic factor such as nutrition and general husbandry of the animal as much as possible will bring about improvement in the body parameters as well as maintaining the animal's physiological balance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-26
Author(s):  
M. M. Shettima ◽  
N. K. Alade ◽  
A. O. Raji

This study focused on polymorphisms of haemoglobin in some indigenous ruminants. Blood samples were collected from a total of 2400 ruminants (600 cattle, 900 goats and 900 sheep) and analyzed. Body Weight (BW) and Nine linear body measurements viz: Height at withers (HW), Body length (BL), Heart girth (HG), Face length (FL), Neck length (NL), Neck width (NW), Rump width (RW), Ear length (EL), Tail length (TL) and shoulder width (SW) were measured on each animal prior to blood sample collection. The results revealed that animals with heterozygotes genotype Hb AB had higher values for body weight (313.42 kg), body length (158.23 cm), shoulder width (28.21 cm) and heart girth (150.39 cm) in cattle. In goats, individuals with Hb BB and Hb AB had similar heart girth (69.33 and 66.16 cm), body weight (21.08 and 20.92 kg), and shoulder width (10.43 and 10.23 cm), though they were better than those with Hb AA genotype. In conclusion, while Hb AA is an adaptation genotype in sheep, Hb AB is the genotype of choice for both adaptation and meat traits in cattle and goats.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
PENI WAHYU PRIHANDINI ◽  
DYAH MAHARANI ◽  
Sumadi Sumadi

Abstract. Prihandini PW, Maharani D, Sumadi. 2020. Body weight, body measurements, and slaughter characteristics of Madura cattle raised in Pamekasan District, East Java Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 3415-3421.  This study was designed to analyze the body weight, body measurements and slaughter characteristics of Madura cattle raised in Pamekasan district, East Java province, Indonesia. A total of 2,373 records on live body weight and body measurements (body length, height at withers and chest girth), and 69 records on slaughter traits (slaughter, carcass, and meat weight, as well as carcass and meat percentage) from both sexes were used. Sampled animals were divided into three groups based on age (calf: 0- to10-month-old; young: 11- to 24-month-old; adult: >24-month-old). The data were analyzed using independent sample t-test to assess significant differences between sex groups and subjected to multiple linear regression analyses to obtain prediction equations of body weight from body measurements, carcass weight from slaughter weight, and meat weight from slaughter- and carcass-weight. Results showed that body weight, height at withers, and chest girth between male and female cattle in all age groups were significantly different (P<0.05). Male cattle showed higher slaughter weight, carcass weight and carcass percentage mean values than female cattle. Body measurements showed high correlation with body weight (r ≥0.80). Height at withers, body length, and chest girth represented good body measurements to predict body weight (R2 = from 0.65 to 0.83). Moreover, as observed, high correlations between slaughter weight and carcass- (r = 0.94; R2 = 0.89) and meat-weight (r = 0.99; R2 = 0.98) would imply that meat weight could be predicted accurately from slaughter- and carcass-weight.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-19
Author(s):  
P. A. John ◽  
A. O. Iyiola-Tunji

Body linear measurements of different age categories of donkeys were used to predict the body weight of donkeys using stepwise regression procedure. This work was conducted to estimates the live body weight of donkeys from biometric traits. A total of 700 donkeys were measured into three age groups (weaners 6 months- 1 year, young above 1- 3 years and adults 3 years and above). Morphometric measures taken were body weight, head length, head width, ear length, neck length, neck circumference, shoulder width, height at withers, heart girth, body length and tail length using random sampling technique. Significant variations were observed in morphometric (P<0.05, P<0.01) traits. The results of the study showed that significantly (P<0.01) predicted body weight of these donkeys with good efficiencies were neck circumference (NC), tail length (TL) and body length (BL) were the best predictors of body weight with R2= 100% in weaners, head width (HWD), neck circumference (NL), neck circumference (NC) and height at withers (HW) with R2= 100% in young and HW, HG with R2 = 100% in adult category. The traits were significantly (p<0.05, 0.01) and positively correlated amongst themselves (r=0.09-0.87).It is therefore concluded that the inclusion of two variables improved the prediction marginally, but the addition of further variables gave little further improvement. The association may be useful as selection criterion, since positive correlations of traits suggest that the traits are under the same gene action (pleiotropy/linkage). It is therefore recommended that tail length, neck circumference, body length, height at withers and heart girth should be used as the best predictors of body weight across the sex and age categories of donkeys. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 425-439
Author(s):  
Bhupen Roka ◽  
Alankar K. Jha ◽  
Dhani Raj Chhetri

The red panda is a lesser carnivore that has adapted to the herbivore diet and is distributed in the Himalayan and Hengduan mountain ranges. The study conducted on red panda in Singalila National Park recorded the highest encounter of the species within the altitude of 2800 to 3200 meters in the broad leaf deciduous and broad leaf coniferous forest. 22.22% of direct sightings of red pandas occurred on plant species belonging to the family Fagaceae and were followed by the family Ericaceae (18.52%). The plant species mostly preferred by the red panda in Singalila National Park were Lithocarpus pachyphyllus, Rhododendron arboreum, Abies densa, and Betulia utilis. During all seasons, the dominant plants found in the red panda pellets were Arundinaria maling and Arundinaria aristata. &nbsp;The distribution of the red panda is influenced by the presence of the preferred plant species, therefore, through this studies effort has been made to document the plant species used by the red panda in the wild habitat.


Oryx ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anwaruddin Choudhury

AbstractThe current status and distribution of the red panda Ailurus fulgens in the wild is poorly known. The subspecies fulgens is found in the Himalaya in Nepal, India, Bhutan, northern Myanmar and southwest China, and the subspecies styani occurs further to the east in south-central China. The red panda is an animal of subtropical and temperate forests, with the exception of Meghalaya in India, where it is also found in tropical forests. In the wild, red pandas take a largely vegetarian diet consisting chiefly of bamboo. The extent of occurrence of the red panda in India is about 170,000 sq km, although its area of occupancy within this may only be about 25,000 sq km. An estimate based on the lowest recorded average density and the total area of potential habitat suggests that the global population of red pandas is about 16,000–20,000. Habitat loss and poaching, in that order, are the major threats. In this paper the distribution, status and conservation problems of the red panda, especially in India, are reviewed, and appropriate conservation measures recommended, including the protection of named areas and the extension of some existing protected areas.


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