Comparison and evaluation of some methods used to age Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus, Richardson) collected in the vicinity of Cowichan Lake, B.C.
Date
1970
Authors
Child, Kenneth Norman
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Abstract
The age of 232 deer was determined by three methods. Of these, that by tooth eruption and wear was found to b e fast and cheap, but limited in accuracy. Use of lens weights, because it dealt with a continuous variable, permitted separation of fawns and adults only. Use of tooth annuli appears to give results that are exact to any age, but the time involved in the preparation of teeth for examination is prohibitive. A new technique, involving the use of a cryostat, was developed for tooth preparation, that shortens the time of preparation to one tenth that required by other tooth sectioning methods.