Radiographic assessment of pectoral flipper bone maturation in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), as a novel technique to accurately estimate chronological age.

ABSTRACT: Accurate age estimation in wildlife conservation is an important diagnostic tool in the interpretation of biological data, necropsy examination, reproductive status and population demographics. The most frequently utilized methods to age bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) include tooth extraction; counting dental growth layer groups and dental radiography. These methods are inaccurate in dolphins > 13 years old, due to overlapping of the growth layer groups in dolphins and worn teeth. Establishing a non-invasive method of accurately aging bottlenose dolphins across the entire age range is important to long term conservation efforts to understand health status, lifespan, reproduction and survivability. A database of 126 radiographs from 94 dolphins of known chronological age was utili

SUBMITTER: Barratclough A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6762177 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature