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Journal Publications
Gau,
R.J. and R. Case. 1999. Evaluating nutritional condition of grizzly
bears with select blood parameters. Journal of Wildlife Management
63:286-291.
Abstract
The use of
blood parameters to estimate nutritional condition of bears has yet to be
validated with actual body compositions. We used bioelectrical impedance
analysis (BIA) to accurately estimate the body composition of a free-ranging
population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) from the central Arctic of
the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. We then correlated their blood
hematology and metabolite parameters, previously identified by other studies
on black bears (U. americanus) and grizzly bears to be useful
indicators of nutritional condition, to the percentage of total body fat
determined by BIA.
None of the examined blood parameters had a significant relation with total
body fat levels that were free from the effects of activity, stress, or
dietary changes. Thus, interpretations of a grizzly bear's nutritional
condition using the blood parameters we examined would be spurious. |
