The age and post-juvenile growth of rabbits in the south-east of Scotland

• Autorzy: Kolb H. H.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Population structure and adult growth of wild rabbits Oryctolagus cunicuLus (Lin­naeus, 1758) were compared between three habitats, forestry, hill farm and sand dunes, in SE Scotland. The exponentially transformed eye lens weight was used to divide the samples into age classes up to five years old. The forestry and hill farm populations had stable age structures compared with the sand dune population, and the proportion of one year old animals was 58 and 65% compared to only 40% in the sand dunes. The hill farm rabbits were larger than those from the forestry but the pattern of growth was similar. The sand dune rabbits were significantly smaller at all ages and had shorter legs. First year females from the sand dunes were lighter than males of the same age, suggesting that they were not coming into breeding condition, whereas in all the age classes in the other areas, females were heavier than mates. It was suggested that the sand dunes rabbits were restricted in growth as a result of poor nutrition.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Oryctolagus cuniculus; Scotland; wild rabbit; growth; age; rabbit

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Theriologica
• Rocznik: 1994
• Tom: 39
• Numer: 1
• Opis fizyczny: p.49-57,fig.

Twórcy

autor

Kolb H. H.

• Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, East Craigs, Edinburgh EH12 8NJ, Scotland

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