Validation of body condition scoring systems for common eland (Taurotragus oryx)

Sarah Thérèse Dearman

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Body condition scoring (BCS) is a valuable tool used in both zoological and captive collections as well as in the field. It is a crucial tool for assessing an animal’s general health status. Despite eland often being found in captive environments, there is yet to be a publication that outlines the most suitable way to assess the body condition of the common eland (Tragelaphus oryx). This thesis, therefore, occupies this gap in the existing literature and determines both the best method of assessing body condition as well as the optimal area of the body to do so in the common eland – the findings can then be utilised by zoological collections around the globe in addition to field researchers focusing on this species. Using a group of captive common eland, visual body condition scores were taken for each of the 56 individuals once a month for 30 months. To validate the visual body condition scoring system, the study then used inter-rater reliability and correlation with other parameters, including palpation body condition scores, tail base, and body weight. Our results show that we have validated a visual body condition scoring system since the output of the intraclass correlation (ICC) showed a significant degree of reliability between all scorers as each focus point gave an ICC value of above 0.7. Thus, the scoring matrix provided can be utilised by zoological and captive collections that house common eland. Additionally, the Spearman’s rank correlations between visual and palpation BCS and the added variables were all statistically significant. The study also outlines the effect of age and sex of an individual on their body condition score, with there being a statistically significant difference between the average means of each age category and the post hoc testing finding a greater variance in younger age categories. We found that when testing for sex bias on the average visual BCS there showed to be no sex bias, however, when testing for sex bias for each focus area separately, the neck body condition scores showed to have sex bias.

Keywords

Animal health, Antelope, Palpation body condition scoring, Scoring matrix, Visual body condition scoring

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 23. 4. 2023

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 30. 5. 2023
• Supervisor: doc. Francisco Ceacero Herrador, Ph.D.
• Reader: Luděk Stádník, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / specializace:
Wildlife and Livestock Production, Management and Conservation / Wildlife Management and Conservation