Fecal Pellet Morphometry of Barking Deer (Muntiacus vaginalis) in the Margalla Hills National Park, Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract

This study employed morphometric analysis of fecal pellets to accurately characterize the age and sex of barking deer (Muntiacus vaginalis) in the Margalla Hills National Park (33.7481° N, 73.0051° E), Islamabad, with implications for the species' conservation. Line transect sampling was employed to collect the samples. Fecal pellets were collected from three age/sex classes of barking deer: bucks, does, and yearlings. Fifty-eight pellets from yearlings, 112 pellets from bucks, and 142 pellets from does were chosen at random to be analyzed. The fecal pellets exhibited a diversity of morphometric attributes including the position and number of the tip and cleavage furrow patterns. A notable disparity was observed in the shape of fecal pellets between bucks and does. The fecal pellets of does were shorter and thicker than those of bucks in size. We calculated the weight, length, width, and volume of all selected fecal pellets. The findings regarding the estimated value of the length-to-width (L/W) ratio were higher for bucks (M=2.16) in contrast to does (M=1.67) and yearlings (M=1.66). The coefficient of variation of the (L/W) ratio exhibited a higher value of 3.334 for bucks, compared to does (2.64) and yearlings (0.121). The discriminant classification coefficient function and K-mean clustering methods were used for statistical analyses. The discriminant function correctly assigned 86.7% of bucks, 74.3% of does, and 98.1% of yearlings to their respective age classes. Additionally, the K-mean clustering analysis achieved 100% accuracy in differentiating individuals. The length of the fecal pellets in adults and the volume in yearlings were good indicators, and the overall results demonstrated a high level of accuracy in age and sex identification. A strong relationship (- 0.273) was observed between weight and volume of fecal pellets.