Mountain Lions of the Black Hills

800

700

600

500

Total kidney fat inde

x

400

300

200

100

0

050 100 150

Riney kidney fat index

200 250

female

male

300

figure 6.5. Relationship between the Riney kidney fat index and the total kidney

fat index for mountain lion carcasses from the Black Hills. As expected, the two

indices were correlated (r^2 = 0.61) with each other and similar (P = 0.47) between

males and females.

Table 6.1. Mean (and standard error) total kidney fat indices of adult

and young mountain lions in the Black Hills

Period Age Mean SE N

1998–2003 <2.5 years 1 6 7. 59 1 7. 7 3 14
1998–2003 ≥2.5 years 161.21 20.01 11
2004–2005 <2.5 years 118.54 13.83 23
2004–2005 ≥2.5 years 114.18 19.15 12
Note: Total kidney fat is presented because Riney kidney fat indices did not differ (P > 0.05) among visual
ranks for abdominal fat.
Age × Year: P = 0.37
Age: P = 0.59
Year: P = 0.07

Table 6.2. Average total kidney fat indices (average and standard error of the mean)

for mountain lions from the Black Hills

Code Average TKFI (%) SEM N

L = Low 40.30 15.88 11
M = Moderate 132.45 11.23 22
H = High 215.89 1 7. 5 6 9
Notes: Lion carcasses were ranked low, medium, and high based on condition of abdominal fat.
Total kidney fat is presented because values for Riney kidney fat did not differ (P > 0.05) among visual
categories.
F = 27.83; df = 2,39; P < 0.001