The growth of individual muscles and bones in the red deer

Abstract

ABSTRACTFourteen red deer, three hinds and 11 stags, ranging from birth (8·8 kg) to 10 years of age (143·4 kg), were slaughtered and the carcasses dissected into individual muscles and bones.Regression equations relating the actual weight of each component or group of components to independent variables such as age, live weight, carcass weight, total muscle weight or total bone weight were fitted to the data, the majority of which satisfactorily conformed to simple allometric relationships. Twenty of the muscles and one muscle group exhibited a pattern of growth which was better described by the inclusion of a quadratic function. The description of the data using an additional term in the allometric equation was considered to be more biologically sound than the often-used practice of fitting different coefficients to the logarithmic form of the allometric equation for each stage of growth. The group of muscles surrounding the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae and those of the abdominal wall were the fastest growing, both having a growth coefficient of 1·08 with standard errors (s.e.) of 0·013 and 0·017 respectively. The slowest growth was found in the distal forelimb group of muscles (growth coefficient = 0·84, s.e. 0015), no individual muscle in this group having a growth coefficient greater than 0·9.The bones of the axial' skeleton increased in weight faster than those of the appendicular skeleton. The growth coefficients were, axial 1·13, forelimb 0·93 and hindlimb 0·92 (s.e. 0·025, 0013 and 0·015, respectively).The muscles of the proximal hindlimb were slightly heavier in the hind, and those of the dorsal neck and shoulder heavier in the stag.Only one minor anatomical variation was found which was related to the insertion of the m. rhomb oideus.