Determining Sex in Golden Eagle (AQUILA CHRYSAETOS) Nestling

Gabriela Peniche Peyron; Darren Shaw; SG Dures; Sherryn A.  Ciavaglia; D.B.A. Thompson; NE Anderson; Anna Meredith

doi:10.1007/s10344-022-01627-1

Determining Sex in Golden Eagle (AQUILA CHRYSAETOS) Nestling

Gabriela Peniche Peyron^*, Darren Shaw, SG Dures, Sherryn A. Ciavaglia, D.B.A. Thompson, NE Anderson, Anna Meredith

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Incorporating sex ratios of nestlings into population viability studies increases knowledge of overall health of endangered populations. Currently, a reliable non-invasive method to identify the sex of golden eagle nestlings is not available; however, claims are commonly made based on morphology. Ten biometric measurements from 43 Scottish golden eagles aged 2–7.5 weeks were assessed to see if sex could actually be determined using this non-invasive methodology. Sex was confirmed via molecular analysis of blood samples. Discrete and principal component analyses of the different biometrics could not correctly determine individual nestling sex. Therefore, despite being more invasive, molecular sexing remains the recommended tool of choice for accurate sex identification of Scottish golden eagle nestlings younger than 7.5 weeks of age. This has important implications for golden eagle field studies where empirical morphological measurements are frequently and typically taken, but we have shown are not reliable in determining the sex of such young nestlings.

Original language	English
Article number	1
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	European Journal of Wildlife Research
Volume	69
Issue number	1
Early online date	5 Dec 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-022-01627-1
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

biometric
sexing
golden eagle
non-invasive
nestling

Access to Document

10.1007/s10344-022-01627-1

s10344-022-01627-1Final published version, 984 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

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EJWR_Manuscript2_Nov22 (1)
Accepted author manuscript, 1.13 MB
Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Determining Sex in Golden Eagle (AQUILA CHRYSAETOS) Nestling",

abstract = "Incorporating sex ratios of nestlings into population viability studies increases knowledge of overall health of endangered populations. Currently, a reliable non-invasive method to identify the sex of golden eagle nestlings is not available; however, claims are commonly made based on morphology. Ten biometric measurements from 43 Scottish golden eagles aged 2–7.5 weeks were assessed to see if sex could actually be determined using this non-invasive methodology. Sex was confirmed via molecular analysis of blood samples. Discrete and principal component analyses of the different biometrics could not correctly determine individual nestling sex. Therefore, despite being more invasive, molecular sexing remains the recommended tool of choice for accurate sex identification of Scottish golden eagle nestlings younger than 7.5 weeks of age. This has important implications for golden eagle field studies where empirical morphological measurements are frequently and typically taken, but we have shown are not reliable in determining the sex of such young nestlings.",

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author = "{Peniche Peyron}, Gabriela and Darren Shaw and SG Dures and Ciavaglia, {Sherryn A.} and D.B.A. Thompson and NE Anderson and Anna Meredith",

note = "Funding Information: Gabriela Peniche was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) CASE studentship in partnership with NatureScot, previously Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), and a European Wildlife Disease Association (EWDA) grant supported this research. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

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AU - Thompson, D.B.A.

AU - Anderson, NE

AU - Meredith, Anna

N1 - Funding Information: Gabriela Peniche was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) CASE studentship in partnership with NatureScot, previously Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), and a European Wildlife Disease Association (EWDA) grant supported this research. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

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AB - Incorporating sex ratios of nestlings into population viability studies increases knowledge of overall health of endangered populations. Currently, a reliable non-invasive method to identify the sex of golden eagle nestlings is not available; however, claims are commonly made based on morphology. Ten biometric measurements from 43 Scottish golden eagles aged 2–7.5 weeks were assessed to see if sex could actually be determined using this non-invasive methodology. Sex was confirmed via molecular analysis of blood samples. Discrete and principal component analyses of the different biometrics could not correctly determine individual nestling sex. Therefore, despite being more invasive, molecular sexing remains the recommended tool of choice for accurate sex identification of Scottish golden eagle nestlings younger than 7.5 weeks of age. This has important implications for golden eagle field studies where empirical morphological measurements are frequently and typically taken, but we have shown are not reliable in determining the sex of such young nestlings.

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Determining Sex in Golden Eagle (AQUILA CHRYSAETOS) Nestling

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