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. 2021 Oct 29;11(11):3095.
doi: 10.3390/ani11113095.

Characteristics of the Donkey's Dorsal Profile in Relation to Its Functional Body Condition Assessment

Małgorzata Maśko  1 , Małgorzata Wierzbicka  2 , Łukasz Zdrojkowski  2 , Tomasz Jasiński  2 , Bartosz Pawliński  2 , Małgorzata Domino  2
Affiliations

Characteristics of the Donkey's Dorsal Profile in Relation to Its Functional Body Condition Assessment

Małgorzata Maśko et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

As the breeding of donkeys has increased due to different types of use, welfare evaluation importance increases. This equid's welfare state has been described using body condition indicators and the geometric morphometrics method. However, the dorsal profile has not yet been assessed in donkeys. In this study, the body condition score (BCS), fatty neck score (FNS), dental condition score (DCS), sex, and breed were used as criteria of dorsal profile deformations. Photographs of 40 donkeys were analyzed using geometric morphometrics. Within the entire set of dorsal profiles, the variance of the first three principal components (PCs) was PC1 = 37.41%, PC2 = 23.43%, and PC3 = 13.34%. The dorsal profiles displayed deformation as an effect of FNS and BCS on size (FNS p = 0.012; BCS p = 0.024) and shape (FNS p < 0.0001; BCS p < 0.0001), rather than as an effect of DCS (p < 0.0001), sex (p = 0.0264), and breed (p < 0.0001) only on shape. The highest distances among the categories (Mahalanobis distances: MD ≥ 13.26; Procrustes distances: PD ≥ 0.044) were noted for FNS. The lowest distances were noted between jennets and males (MD = 4.58; PD = 0.012) and between BCS 1 and BCS 2 (MD = 4.70; PD = 0.018). Donkeys' body condition affects their dorsal profile and both FNS and BCS measurements should be considered when a donkey's dorsal profile is investigated.

Keywords: comparison; equids; landmarks; posture; shape.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An example of donkeys classified following the fatty neck score (FNS): (A) FNS 0, (B) FNS 1, (C) FNS 2, (D) FNS 3, (E) FNS 4, and (F) FNS 5 categories. The red line indicates measurement of the neck thickness (NT), from one side of the neck to the other at 0.50 of the neck length, taken from the point of the estimated differentiation between the crest and the neck musculature. NT values for individuals are given in cm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
An example of the landmarks (marked with a big red point and bold font) and the sliding semilandmarks (marked with a small red point) digitalization on photography of donkeys classified following the fatty neck score (FNS): (A) FNS 0, and (B) FNS 5. The blue curves were fitted to the shape of the dorsal profile of animals. In post-processing, the TPS curves were appended to 30 landmarks. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30). Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between regions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Procrustes coordinates of the donkey data set. Blue points represent the consecutive landmarks marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Principal components of the dorsal profiles of donkeys, represented by (A) the wireframe graph and (B) the histogram of variance. Light blue landmarks and curves represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile. Dark blue landmarks and curves represent the extremum (minimum of the axis) of PC1, PC2, and PC3, respectively. Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between regions. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
Figure 5
Figure 5
A scatter plot of the principal component scores of the donkeys. The color for each category was determined based on the classifier variables: (A) sex (jennets; males); (B) breed (half-breed Andalusian donkeys, half-breed Grigio Siciliano donkeys, half-breed Martina Franca donkeys, half-breed Magyar Parlagi donkeys, and half-breed Romanian donkeys); (C) body condition score (BCS 2, BCS 3, and BCS 4); (D) fatty neck score (FNS 0, FNS 1, FNS 2, FNS 3, FNS 4, and FNS 5); and (E) dental condition score (DCS 0, DCS 1, and DCS 2). The confidence ellipses were drawn using a 0.9 probability and a classifier as a criterion for grouping the observations.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Average observations of the donkeys’ dorsal profiles grouped by body condition score (BCS 2, BCS 3, and BCS 4) and represented by (A) wireframe graphs and (B) a transformation grid. In the wireframe graphs, light blue landmarks and curves represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue landmarks and curves represent the average observations for the subsequent BCS scores. On the transformation grid, dark blue landmarks represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile as well as dark blue lines represent the average observations for subsequent BCS scores. Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between regions. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Average observations of the donkeys’ dorsal profiles grouped by fatty neck score (FNS 0, FNS 1, FNS 2, FNS 3, FNS 4, and FNS 5) and represented by (A) wireframe graphs and (B) a transformation grid. In the wireframe graphs, light blue landmarks and curves represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue landmarks and curves represent the average observations for the subsequent FNS scores. On the transformation grid, dark blue landmarks represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue lines represent the average observations for the subsequent FNS scores. Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between regions. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Average observations of the donkeys’ dorsal profiles grouped by sex (jennets; males) and represented by (A) wireframe graphs and (B) a transformation grid. In the wireframe graphs, light blue landmarks and curves represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue landmarks and curves represent the average observations for the subsequent sex groups. On the transformation grid, dark blue landmarks represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue lines represent the average observations for the subsequent sex groups. Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between regions. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Average observations of the donkeys’ dorsal profiles grouped by breed (half-breed Andalusian donkeys, half-breed Grigio Siciliano donkeys, half-breed Martina Franca donkeys, half-breed Magyar Parlagi donkeys, and half-breed Romanian donkeys) and represented by (A) wireframe graphs and (B) a transformation grid. In the wireframe graphs, light blue landmarks and curves represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue landmarks and curves represent the average observations for the subsequent breed groups. On the transformation grid, dark blue landmarks represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue lines represent the average observations for the subsequent breed groups. Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between the regions. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Average observations of the donkeys’ dorsal profiles grouped by body dental condition score (DCS 0, DCS 1, and DCS 2) and represented by (A) wireframe graphs and (B) a transformation grid. In the wireframe graphs, light blue landmarks and curves represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue landmarks and curves represent the average observations for the subsequent DCS scores. On the transformation grid, dark blue landmarks represent the consensus donkey’s dorsal profile and the dark blue lines represent the average observations for the subsequent DCS scores. Dashed lines indicate the boundaries between regions. Consecutive landmarks are marked with increasing numbers from the first caudalis vertebra (1) to the tuber faciale (30).
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