Factores de variación en la composición química, estructura y propiedades mecánicas de la cuerna del ciervo ibérico

Resumen

Red deer is one of the main game species both in Spain (Iberian subspecies) and in other European countries. The quality of the trophies in Spain is low, partly due to over-abundance and inadequate management. Recovering data from deer is difficult without killing a sample of individuals, but this, in turn, might be costly. We have developed a technique consisting of using the mineral profile, structural variables, and mechanical properties of antlers in order to assess physiological effort made to grow the antler, mineral deficiencies, and even indirect climatic influences. All these effects suggest that the chemical composition, mechanical properties and other structural variables can be used as a diagnostic tool to assess the state of a population by testing antlers that game managers keep for years. The results obtained indicate that the mineral profile, structural variables and mechanical properties differ along the main beam/shaft of the antler even under good conditions. The chemical composition is associated with external measures of the antlers such as weight, length and cortical thickness, which effectively means that there is a particular composition of high and low quality antlers. The trend in composition from first to last parts grown in the beam indicate physiological effort, and thus it is likely that it might show also the quality of the male. Differences between farm and wild populations suggest an influence of management (particularly nutrition) in chemical composition, structural variables and mechanical properties. Some of these trends also reflect differences in mineral composition of the diet, thus showing the influence of nutrition on antler chemical composition. Recent studies show that mineral and mechanical properties may differ between sharply different climatic years within the same population, which suggests that mentioned differences cannot be attributed to different origin of deer populations. All this suggests that antler mineral composition, structural variables and mechanical properties can be used as a tool to assess the state of a population. The results of these studies can be a tool that may be directly used by management consulting companies or by game managers.