Prediction of body weight from body measurements in canerat: Thryonomys swinderianus (Temminck, 1827)

Abstract

Study on prediction of body weight from linear measurements of other body parts of feral Canerats killed in Abeokuta, Ogun State was conducted. Seventy eight (78) canerats from hunters return were collected and weighed. Other body parts of the animals such as body length (BL), head length (HL), ear length (EL), tail length (TL), hindlimb (HLL) and forelimb length (FLL) were measured. Data collected was subjected to regression and correlation analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 10.00 Version, 2001). The study shows that head length appeared as the highest single predictor variable (R2 = 1.00) for body weight in canerats. This was followed by body length which was also highly (P<0.01) significant in body weight prediction of canerats (R2 = 0.678). Notwithstanding the unit of calculation, the equation of the head length has shown that the numerical value of the body weight is approximately equal to a quarter of the numerical value of the head length. Each of the parameter measured shows varied degree of association from, positively weak (0.322) to positively strong (0.824) correlation. There is significant different (P < 0.01) in the degree of association between body weight and other linear body measurements; hence, body weight can be predicted from linear body measurements but with different degree of reliability for each parameter.

Keywords: Canerat, Body weight, Prediction, measurement, linear, feral.