A refined guide for aging muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) based on mandibular examination.

ABSTRACT: Accurately aging wildlife is essential for effective management and conservation efforts because it supports the estimation of demographic parameters used to model population dynamics and determine harvest quotas. Currently, accurately aging muskoxen is limited by the lack of validated and standardized protocols specific to this species. We investigated three methods for aging muskoxen: tooth eruption pattern, mandible morphometrics, and cementum annuli analysis (CAA). We examined 260 mandibles from community-harvested muskoxen with known harvest dates from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories and radiographed 89 of these mandibles with erupting teeth to track eruption stages. From these data, we developed a key to estimate age of muskoxen from newborn until all permanent teeth have compl

SUBMITTER: Suitor E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12459791 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature