Medidas biométricas, avaliação do escore corporal e índice de massa corpórea em Quatis (Nasua nasua) de vida livre da região Centro Sul do estado de São Paulo, Brasil / Biometric measures, body score and body mass index evaluation in wild coatis (Nasua nasua) living in the South-Central region of São Paulo State, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Background: Coatis (Nasua nasua) have easy interaction with man, besides being sociable and curious animals. Theproximity to urbanized areas encourages them to intake food from anthropogenic sources, and it can change their eatinghabits and make them prone to obesity. The body condition evaluates the animals’ energetic status and measures variations in their body fat reserves. There are direct-invasive methods and indirect methods that rely on size and body massto evaluate the body condition, like body condition score and body mass index. Thus, the aim of the present study was toassess different methods to determine the body condition of wild coatis (Nasua nasua) living in urban areas.Materials, Methods & Results: Sixteen wild coatis (Nasua nasua), nine females and seven males, were captured at Facultyof Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ) of São Paulo State University, Botucatu, in pitfalls. The animals wereanesthetized with ketamine and midazolam and subjected to biometric evaluation after physical exams proved normal. Thefollowing variables were analyzed body weight, body condition score (BCS) based on the five-point scale for dogs, thoracicand abdominal circumference, height at the withers, spine length and distance from the patella to the calcaneus. Two bodymass index (BMI) were calculated from these data, one was based on dogs (BMI1) and another one on cats (BMI2), as well asthe body fat percentage (%BF). Results showed that 25% of the assessed coatis were overweight. Body weight, thoracic andabdominal circumference, height at the withers, spine length and distance from the patella to the calcaneus were significantlyhigher in males than in females and the other assessed parameters did not present differences between sexes. The correlationbetween fat percentage and body weight was significant, and that between fat percentage and BCS was not. There was closer correlation...