Foraging rates of wapiti on green and cured pastures

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Abstract
Foraging rates of wapiti (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) were studied on green (August) and cured (October) pastures that were progressively defoliated from >3000 kg/ha to 200 kg/ha over 8–12 days. For grassland vegetation, maximum intake rates of 11 g/min on green pastures and 22 g/min on cured pasture declined by 50% at forage biomasses of 385 and 533 kg/ha, respectively. Although wapiti cropped forage more slowly on cured vegetation, bite sizes were larger at an equivalent forage biomass. Cropping bite rates declined from 50 to 25 bites/min as bite sizes increased from 0.1 to 1 g with similar relationships for green and cured forage. In forested habitats, wapiti foraged more slowly at an equivalent biomass and bite size.

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