Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Georgia
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources


Nesbitt, S. A., C. T. Moore, and K. S. Williams. 1992. Gender prediction from body measurements of two subspecies of sandhill cranes. Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop 6:38-42.

Abstract

Linear discriminant functions estimated from leg length, bill length and body weight measurements of known subspecies and known gender (KS-KG) Florida (FSH) and greater sandhill cranes (GSH) (Grus canadensis pratensis and G. c. tabida, respectively) were used to predict gender of known subspecies and unknown gender (KS-UG) individuals. Mean body measurements were larger among males than among females of either subspecies, but the difference in mean bill length between genders was larger among GSH than among FSH cranes. Gender misclassification was less frequent among GSH than among FSH cranes. Of birds whose measurements fell outside of the 80% prediction region surrounding either gender measurement mean, misclassification rates were ≤ 6%.