THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL-CONDITIONS AND POPULATION DENSITY ON THE DYNAMICS OF SEX-AGE STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION OF DAGHESTAN TUR (CAPRA-CYLINDRICORNIS)

In the East-Caucasian population of daghestan turs, the relative numbe r of adult females is 36.8 +/- 1.9%, that of adult males is 23.5 +/- 5 .2%, youngs of the current year -22.2 +/- 1.9%, and immature animals a t the age of 1 to 3 years -17.8 +/- 1.4%. The ratio of different sex-a ge groups of turs in different parts of the species-range significantl y deviates from the average values, which is caused by various respons e of different groups of turs to the changes in feeding and protective conditions of habitats. Adult males predominate (32 to 40% of the tot al population number) in the populations at the slopes with the steepn ess of 30 to 40 degrees, where the combination of feeding and protecti ve conditions is optimal. All other territories are predominated by ad ult females (33 to 50%), which are less influenced by these factors th an other sex-age groups. The relative number of juveniles and subadult s in the population is decreasing with the increase of population dens ity, which is caused both by the decrease of fecundity of females and increased juvenile mortality because of food deficiency.