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| Viblanc, Vincent A.; Bize, Pierre; Criscuolo, Francois; Le Vaillant, Maryline; Saraux, Claire; Pardonnet, Sylvia; Gineste, Benoit; Kauffmann, Marion; Prud'Homme, Onesime; Handrich, Yves; Massemin, Sylvie; Groscolas, Rene; Robin, Jean-patrice. |
| Body mass and body condition are often tightly linked to animal health and fitness in the wild and thus are key measures for ecophysiologists and behavioral ecologists. In some animals, such as large seabird species, obtaining indexes of structural size is relatively easy, whereas measuring body mass under specific field circumstances may be more of a challenge. Here, we suggest an alternative, easily measurable, and reliable surrogate of body mass in field studies, that is, body girth. Using 234 free-living king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) at various stages of molt and breeding, we measured body girth under the flippers, body mass, and bill and flipper length. We found that body girth was strongly and positively related to body mass in both molting... |
| Tipo: Text |
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| Ano: 2012 |
URL: http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00098/20918/18590.pdf |
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