Open Access
How to translate text using browser tools
8 October 2018 Antler manipulation procedures for use in social and behavioral studies of deer
Daniel L. Morina, Steve Demarais, G. Daniel Chesser, J. Wesley Lowe, Bronson K. Strickland
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Theories describing the role of antlers in reproductive biology have lacked substantive evaluation due to the inability to differentiate the effects of antler size from other allometrically related morphological traits. We developed an antler manipulation technique to facilitate comparisons of antler size while controlling for body size and age using white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus. We describe the process by which antlers can be manipulated to further investigate the functions of antlers. We believe this process is a viable option for manipulating antler size across Cervidae with appropriate modification to scale.

© 2018 The Authors. This is an Open Access article This work is licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). The license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Daniel L. Morina, Steve Demarais, G. Daniel Chesser, J. Wesley Lowe, and Bronson K. Strickland "Antler manipulation procedures for use in social and behavioral studies of deer," Wildlife Biology 2018(1), (8 October 2018). https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00452
Accepted: 20 July 2018; Published: 8 October 2018
Back to Top