Modeling Absolute and Allometric Growth in Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata) in Captivity

Absolute and allometric growth of Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotisundulata undulata) were studied. Using body weightmeasurements from hatch till 120 days of age, the Gompertz-Laird growth model was used to describe the growthpattern of the Houbara. Whereas the model underpredictedthe hatching weight (34 vs 40 g), the predicted asymptoticbody weight was in concordance with the data (1193 g). Thesame growth model was also used to describe the growthpattern of beak and shank length, chest girth and wing span.The beak reached asymptotic length faster than the shank,chest girth and wing span. We used the log transformed relationshipof Huxley to determine the allometric relationshipof beak length, shank length, chest girth and wing span relativeto body weight from hatch to 120 days. The allometricgrowth analysis indicated that, beak length, shank length,chest girth and wing span all followed a hypometric allometry(b<1) relative to body weight growth. However, the wingspan has the highest allometric growth compared to the othermeasurements indicating the evolutionary importance of developingwings for quick flights from predators.