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  • Sex-specific impact of tooth wear on senescence in a low-dimorphic mammal species : the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)
    Chirichella, Roberta ...
    Among ungulates, capital breeding males, especially in highly dimorphic species, support higher reproductive costs than females. Roe deer, a relatively monomorphic species, is defined as an ‘income ... breeder’, using a concurrent intake of energy from forage to pay for a reproductive attempt. In a Northern Apennines (Arezzo province, Tuscany, Central Italy) population, we detected sexual dimorphism in adult roe deer according to average body mass (males 11% heavier than females), mandible size (male mandibles are 2% longer than female ones), and tooth measurements (first lower molar 10% higher and mandible cheek teeth row 4% longer in males than in females, providing males with a larger surface for chewing). In our study, body mass and body condition of roe deer males decreased with increasing tooth wear as in females. However, males started losing weight at a lower tooth wear level than females; after losing about 15% (~3.2 kg) of body mass they had greater probability of death than females. For low-dimorphic species like roe deer, these findings raise new considerations about the role of sexual dimorphism in feed intake efficiency
    Vir: Journal of zoology. - ISSN 0952-8369 (Vol. 319, iss. 3, 2023, str. 210-220)
    Vrsta gradiva - članek, sestavni del
    Leto - 2023
    Jezik - angleški
    COBISS.SI-ID - 132335875

vir: Journal of zoology. - ISSN 0952-8369 (Vol. 319, iss. 3, 2023, str. 210-220)

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