JUVENILE LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

摘要

We examined growth rates and physical development of four body characteristics (mass, wing chord, bill length, and head width) of Lesser Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) 3 to 111 days posthatch in southeastern New Mexico. Growth rates, inflection points, and selected growth curves (logistic and Gompertz) associated with body mass and wing chord were similar between Lesser Prairie-chickens in New Mexico and Kansas. The asymptotic body mass (713 +- 7 g) was less for female and male yearling Lesser Prairie-chickens in New Mexico than for either yearling females or males in Kansas (male: 789 +- 4, female: 719 +- 6). Juvenile Lesser Prairie-chickens in New Mexico achieved 90% of their asymptotic body mass 7 days faster than Lesser Prairie-chickens in Kansas.