I've collected a diverse range of measurements from Painted Dogs and would like to calculate body condition. Is there a general consensus using say weight/pes for large carnivores? Or weight and other landmarks. Is log or a natural log applied to respective variables? If you have a reference that I could follow up also that would be great. Thanks
Dear Nicole,
I am not in a position to answer your question directly, as you ask what other folks in the field of large carnivores do. But I can make you aware of a step you should not miss when doing the analysis: if you take linear measurements (problematic, by the way) or coordinates of landmarks, then you must relate the natural logarithms of the dimensions to body mass. This is a consequence of allometry.
Cheers, Hermann
Ok thanks very much Hermann - I will keep this in mind
Would you have a reference or better still an example I am able to work through that addresses this limitation?
Regards
These two articles study baboons in the wild and have a measurement for body condition that they use:
Strum, SC (2005). Measuring success in primate translocation: A baboon case study. Am. J. Primatol., 65: 117–140. doi:10.1002/ajp.20103
Silk JB, Strum SC (2010). Maternal Condition Does Not Influence Birth Sex Ratios in Anubis Baboons (Papio anubis). PLoS ONE 5(9): e12750. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012750
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