IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Jansen, B.D.; Jenks, J.A. | |
| Estimating body mass of pumas (_Puma concolor_) | |
| 2011 Wildlife (38): 147-151 | |
Context: Body mass of animals has been estimated using body measurements and formulas have been developed forsome species of large ungulates and carnivores. Pumas (_Puma concolor_) are often captured for sport and research in remoteand rugged terrain and equipment needed to weigh a captured animal is not often carried because of the remoteness. Aims: We investigated whether body measurements were related to body mass for pumas, to develop an equation thatwould accurately estimate body mass of pumas within desired tolerances (~10 kg).Wealso used our model to predict the bodymass of pumas captured in other locales, to investigate the effectiveness of our model on other populations. Methods: We used multiple regression to determine the relationships between body measurements and body mass for58 pumas in the Black Hills. We then applied our top equation to eight pumas that we captured in areas outside the BlackHills study population. Key results: We found that a model using body length (cm) and head and chest circumferences (cm) explained 89% ofthe variation in body mass; sex and age-class information did not contribute significantly to the model. Our top equationwas as follows: body mass (kg) = -61.07 + 0.21_body length (cm) + 0.56_head circumference (cm) + 0.83_chestcircumference (cm). The 95% prediction interval for our top model was -6.3-6.3 kg. We found the difference betweenpredicted and actual body mass of pumas from other populations was -0.40 kg_1.45 (s.e.). Conclusions: We found the relationship between body measurements and body mass to be similar, despite thedifferences in location and environments. Implications: This model could be used by researchers and sport hunters to estimate the mass of a pumas that were notweighed with a scale. |
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