Increases in circulating volumes and cardiac size with growth of White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Jacobsen, N.K.
Growth 44(1): 58-72
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0017-4793 PMID: 7380330 Document Number: 164634
Plasma and blood volumes estimated by the T-1824 plasma haematocrit method increased curvilinearly as 40 captive female and 34 male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) grew in body mass from 6 to 61 kg and 9 to 93 kg, respectively. Although comparable to other species of Cervidae, the weight-specific blood volume averaged 33% more than the interspecific mammalian value of 66 ml/kg body mass. The heart of white-tailed deer was large, averaging 0.90% of the body mass, about twice the ratio reported for domesticated ungulates. The cardiovascular demands attendant on a tenfold increase of body mass were apparently met by rapid increases in cardiac size (both mass and left intraventricular volume increasing curvilinearly with growth) and minute volume of the cardiac pump (cardiac rate and volume ejected per beat, inversely related to the other), which maintained fewer circulations of blood volume per minute with growth to heavier body size occurring from June to November.