Abstract
Abstract The dynamics of ungulate populations depend not only on the size, but also on the sex- and age-structure of the population. Successful management therefore depends on obtaining estimates of the age composition. Variation in performance due to age can be fairly well described by stages, and simple, rough methods for ageing cervids can therefore be useful to management. We assessed the performance of three relatively simple and objective methods based on tooth wear (height of molar), weight of eye lenses and diameter of pedicles (males only) on a sample of 77 female and 81 male European roe deer Capreolus capreolus from Lier, Norway. The relationship between tooth wear and age was linear, whereas the relationship between weight of eye lenses and diameter of pedicles was curvilinear with age, likely making them unreliable for old age classes. However, as only three males and six females ≥ 6 years old were included, we were unable to assess the uncertainty in age estimation for older age classes prec...
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