Fig 2. Constitutive immune responses and nutritional condition differed among adult and yearling North American elk.

Estimated mean (± s.e.) (A) nutritional condition as indicated by maximal subcutaneous fat, (B) bacteria killing ability, and (C) hemolytic-complement activity for adult and yearling North American elk on the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range 2012–2013. Yearling elk had higher bacteria killing ability, higher hemolytic-complement activity and lower nutritional condition than adult elk. Different letters indicate significant differences (P < 0.05) of pairwise comparisons following analysis of variance.