Feral Horse Demography: A Preliminary Report
- 1 September 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by JSTOR in Journal of Range Management
- Vol. 33 (5) , 354-360
- https://doi.org/10.2307/3897882
Abstract
The demographic characteristics of 18 feral horse (E. caballus) populations in 5 states are discussed. As estimated primarily from the results of composition counts, foals comprised an average 19% (post-parturition) of the populations analyzed. Various procedures were employed in an attempt to estimate survival rates within the populations. Provisional estimates of 1st-year survival rates span the general range of 50-70%, while those for adults may approximate 80-85%. Annual rates of increase, predicted from simulation runs with the estimated population parameters, were considerably lower than those observed from aerial inventories in successive years. Possible explanations for these discrepancies and management implications are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Aerial Census of Wild Horses in Western UtahJournal of Range Management, 1979
- The Behaviour and Social Organization of the New Forest PoniesAnimal Behaviour Monographs, 1972
- Some Further Notes on the Use of Matrices in Population MathematicsBiometrika, 1948