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Hematologic and serum biochemical reference values in chemically immobilized free-ranging sambar (Rusa unicolor)

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Abstract

Hematological and serum biochemical reference values for 33 free-ranging sambar deer following immobilization with medetomidine (70–100 μgkg−1) and ketamine (1–2 mgkg−1) in Sariska Tiger Reserve in India were established and the differences across sex and age group were compared. Hematological and biochemical variables across different age-classes for red blood cell count, eosinophils, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, triglycerides, and blood glucose varied significantly though the hematological values did not vary between sexes. Blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels were significantly influenced by sex in the present study. Interpretation of the result, however, needs to be made with caution due to the low number of sub-adult compared to adults in the present study. The study highlights the need for understanding the source of individual variation for meaningful interpretation. This paper provides the first report of baseline hematologic and serum biochemistry values for free-ranging sambar deer that can form basis for assessing the state of health and nutritional condition of the animal.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to officers and frontline staff of Rajasthan Forest Department for according necessary permissions to carry out the work and for extending support during fieldwork. The study was supported by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) through various programs and the support from the Director, WII and Dean, Faculty of Wildlife Sciences is duly acknowledged. The authors are grateful to Christian Gortazar for the valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The efforts of field researchers, field assistants, laboratory technicians, and frontline staff were extensive, and their contributions are duly acknowledged.

Funding

The study was funded by Wildlife Institute of India, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change (MoEFCC), Government of India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Institute of India, P.O. Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India

    Parag Nigam, Animesh Talukdar, Bilal Habib, Bivash Pandav & Pradeep K. Malik

  2. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History Anaikatty (POST), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641108, India

    Sankar Kalyanasundaram

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  1. Parag Nigam
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Correspondence to Parag Nigam.

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The work has approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of Wildlife Institute of India. All the authors agree to participate in the publication. The work is presented for publication in European Journal of Wildlife Research journal.

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Nigam, P., Talukdar, A., Habib, B. et al. Hematologic and serum biochemical reference values in chemically immobilized free-ranging sambar (Rusa unicolor). Eur J Wildl Res 66, 102 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-020-01441-7

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