Note: Your answers to the questions below should follow the expectations for homework found here. Questions outside of class can be asked on the Module Assignments-Questions Teams channel (see link on homepage).

Black Bear Weight

Measuring the live body weight of large-bodied animals can be impractical when equipment needed to weigh individuals is inadequate or unavailable. Thus, the objective of Bartareau (2017) was to develop a model to accurately estimate the live body weight of Black Bears (Ursus americanus floridanus) in Florida based on the relationship between body weight (as determined by a scale) and sex, morphometric measurements (e.g., body length and chest girth), and age, explanatory variables that are more easily obtained in the field. Bartareau’s data are available in BlackBears.csv (data, meta). Use these data to determine if body weight can be predicted from body length for non-cub bears (i.e., older than one year of age). [Note that this may be useful.] Your analysis should follow the workflow and tenor of the example analyses in the reading.