ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on application of the animal indicator concept to assess nutritional status of large herbivores. Use of animals in populations as indicators to assess change in the animal's environment has, in recent years, received increased research effort. Direct assessment of animals in a population has centered on morphology, physiology, and behavior. Fat reserves represent stored energy and measurements of this reserve have been applied to assessment of condition. Changes in the morphology of the rumen may be considered as an additional method for assessment of the quality of forage intake. Birth weights thus serve as an index of maternal nutritional status. Population comparisons using blood data are the earliest applications reported for gross assessment of nutritional status. Few data are available for making application of milk constituents to nutritional assessment in wild herbivores. Published data consist primarily of basic milk analyses taken on limited numbers of animals.
