Scaling of organ weights inMacaca arctoides

Abstract

The allometric scaling of nine internal organs was examined for Macaca arctoides. Significant organ weight‐body weight regressions were obtained for heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, thyroid, liver, and testes. The spleen and adrenal glands exhibited strong variability and were only loosely correlated to body weight. Using allometry as a criterion of subtraction, observed sex differences in mean organ weights were seen to be primarily the result of differences in average body weight. It is postulated that analysis of observed differences in organ weights between this species and Macaca mulatta would yield similar conclusions. Comparison of intraspecific slope values obtained in the present study with interspecific values reported in the literature reveals a pattern paralleling the brain‐body weight relation. A discussion of the relationship between intra‐ and interspecific slopes is presented.