Body size, sexual dimorphism, and seasonal mass fluctuations in a larger sika deer subspecies, the Hokkaido sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis Heude, 1884)

Abstract

Measurements of shoulder height, body length, hind-foot length, and total body mass were collected from 309 Hokkaido sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis Heude, 1884) (115 males and 194 females) and analyzed statistically for sexual dimorphism and seasonal body mass fluctuations. The von Bertalanffy equation was fitted to the growth curves that resulted. Asymptotic shoulder height, body length, and hind-foot length were 106.2, 112.6, and 52.9 cm in males and 94.8, 103.9, and 49.4 cm in females, respectively. Total body mass showed distinct seasonal fluctuations, ranging between 102.8 and 151.0 kg in adult males and 68.0 and 99.8 kg in adult females. Male/female ratios in shoulder height, body length, hind-foot length, and total mass were 1.12, 1.08, 1.07, and 1.51, respectively. These results indicate that the Hokkaido sika deer is one of the largest subspecies, at least in skeleton size. A larger body and longer hind foot would seem to be evolutionary adaptations to Hokkaido's cold, snowy environment.

Correlations between feeding type and mandibular morphology in the sika deer

“…1), which had a large leverage, the correlation between SIZE and body mass was not significant ( r 2 <0.01). This probably is a reflection of considerable variability in the population mean of body mass in the sika deer, which is known to fluctuate up to 20% between seasons (Takatsuki, 1992; Ochiai & Asada, 1995; Suzuki et al , 2001; Shizuma, 2006). Because reliable data that do take seasonal fluctuation into consideration (e.g.…”

“…We tested the validity of using SIZE (instead of body size) in size standardization. We collected mean body size measurements of living animals for each population from the literature (Nagasaki Prefectural Board of Education, 1983; Ochiai & Asada, 1995; Japan Wildlife Research Center, 1998; Suzuki et al , 2001; Shizuma, 2006) or the nuisance data. Body mass is the most common representative measure of body size.…”

“…However, body mass of the sika deer is known to fluctuate seasonally (e.g. Suzuki et al , 2001), and thus is likely to be biased by the season in which culling or living capture was undertaken. Thus, we also used shoulder height (distance from the withers to the tip of the anterior hoof), which is more stable after maturity.…”

Seasonal fluctuations of body condition in northern sika deer on Hokkaido Island, Japan

“…Hokkaido sika deer C. n. yesoensis Heude, 1884, the largest subspecies (Ohtaishi 1986, Suzuki et al 2001, inhabits a highly seasonal environment with long severe winters. Hokkaido sika deer C. n. yesoensis Heude, 1884, the largest subspecies (Ohtaishi 1986, Suzuki et al 2001, inhabits a highly seasonal environment with long severe winters.…”

Relating Red Squirrel Body Size to Different Conifer Cone Morphologies within the Same Geographic Location

“…HFL is a common index of animal size in several vertebrate species: it does not show acute fluctuations with reproductive status (Iason 1990), reflects skeletal size (i.e., the structural size of an animal, mass or fat deposits or both notwithstanding -Wirsing 2003), can indicate relatively acute changes in population body structure (e.g., Pergams and Ashley 1999), and is an easily acquired metric correlated to many less-measurable body morphologies (Cote et al 1998;Suttie and Mitchell 1983;Suzuki et al 2001). Body mass was recorded to the nearest 1 g using a Pesola spring scale (Pesola AG, Baar, Switzerland).…”