The RhinoOMS Dashboard modules allow users to explore and interrogate their data, including registered rhinos, calf history, growth rate, summary tables, maps, and more. The Calf History module allows users to explore matrilineality, age at first calving, and inter-calving intervals by site.
Specifically, the Age at First Calving (AaFC) tab allows users to view plots showing Age at First Calving for all individuals of a site, per year. Age of First Calving is a female’s age when she births her first calf, and is an indication of population growth rate. According to the Summary of Guidelines for: Ensuring Optimal Biological Management by R. Emslie and R. du Toit, “females in rapidly growing populations may have their first calves as young as 6.5 years but in populations with poor performance age at first calving may lengthen to over 7.5 years”. (1)
To proceed, please ensure you have the following:
Select site.
Select a focal year.
Click “Generate AaFC Plots” to view two interactive plots:
On the left, a boxplot shows yearly ranges of Age at First Calving for births that were a female’s first calf. The focal year is indicated by the vertical red dashed line. The two horizontal grey dashed lines indicate target parameters: rapidly growing populations will most likely have an AaFC of 6.5, while poorly performing populations may have an AaFC of over 7.5 (1).
On the right, a scatterplot shows the focal year’s Age of First Calving per birth, for all births that were a female’s first calf. The year’s mean Age at First Calving is indicated by the vertical red dashed line. Hover over the points to view information such as mother’s Rhino name / RhinoOMS ID, date of birth, and age, as well as the calf’s date of birth and the Age of First Calving.
Both plots are interactive, with buttons at the top right of each plot; click the “pan” button to move the plot around, the “box zoom” button to select an area of the plot to zoom to, the “wheel zoom” button to zoom in and out while scrolling, the “reset” button to reset the plot to the original parameters, and the “save” button to download a png file (not interactive) of the plot as it appears on the page.
Click “Export AaFC (Boxplot)” to download an interactive HTML file of the boxplot diagram.
Click “Export AaFC (Scatterplot)” to download an interactive HTML file of the scatterplot diagram.
If you experience any issues, please report it to the Issue Tracker.
1- Emslie, R., du Toit, R. (2006). Summary of Guidelines for: Ensuring Optimal Biological Management. In Guidelines for Implementing SADC Rhino Conservation Strategies (pp.46)