Impact of meteorological variations and provisioning on the body condition of feral cattle in a subtropical climate

Meteorological variations can impact body condition of ungulates over different timescales and populations. The impacts of heat and humidity on body condition, inherent to tropical and subtropical climates, are largely understudied in unmanaged ungulates. In feral ungulates, body condition assessment can help evaluate adaptation to ecological pressures, with some ungulates declining in condition, while other populations thrive in natural habitats. We quantified the impact of weather, seasonality and provisioning on body condition in a feral population of cattle (Bos taurus) in Hong Kong. We used an inference method to identify the exact lag between meteorological variations and biological changes (Sliding Windows Analysis). Our study population does not receive routine care but some cattle are provisioned by local people. We found that cattle maintained good condition (median score of five on a nine-point scale) throughout our two-year study period, with extreme scores never observed. Cloud cover, humidity, sunshine, wind speed and flooding three to four months prior to scoring predicted body condition, suggesting seasonality in body condition fluctuations. Sex, herd size and provisioning were also important drivers of body condition fluctuations in feral cattle. Provisioning mitigated the effects of cloud cover, wind speed and drought. Specifically, identified sliding windows differed between non-provisioned and provisioned herds and between females and males. Our findings highlight the ability of feral cattle in subtropics to maintain optimal body condition despite thermal constraints associated with subtropical seasonality. The delayed impacts we identified can inform the management of subtropical livestock, and the conservation of wild Asian bovids.