Teeth as indicators of age with special reference to Red deer (<i>Cervus elaphus</i>) of known age from Rhum

Abstract

An experiment in land management and Red deer population control was begun by the Nature Conservancy on the Isle of Rhum, a National Nature Reserve off the west coast of Scotland, in 1957. To assess the results fully it has become necessary to determine the most suitable ageing method which can be applied to the material, which has accumulated since from the annual deer culls and natural deaths. Using mandibles only from individuals, whose age was certainly known by marking at birth, and which, in most cases were shot by mistake during subsequent annual culling operations, four different techniques were critically tested. These comprised correlating various combinations of jaw and tooth measurements with age, examining the nature and quantity of secondary dentine deposited within the crown of the first incisor, interpreting the number of layers in the pad of cementum beneath the crown of the first molar, and assessing the stages reached in tooth replacement, eruption and wear. Of these various methods, ageing by tooth replacement, eruption and wear proved the most reliable.