![]() ![]() Here, we describe a non-invasive field technique to determine the age of small cetaceans using periapical dental radiography and subsequent measurement of pulp:tooth area ratios. While there are a variety of methods to estimate ages, each involves some combination of drawbacks, including a lack of precision across all ages, weeks-to-months of analysis time, logistical concerns for field applications, and/or novel techniques still in early development and validation. However, there are few populations with such long-term data sets, therefore alternative techniques for age estimation are required for individual animals without a known birth period. For wild dolphins, researchers have described a variety of age-determination techniques, but the gold-standard relies upon photo-identification to establish individual observational life histories from birth. Estimating ages for marine mammals presents a particular challenge due to the environment they inhabit: accessibility is limited and, when temporarily restrained for assessment, the window of opportunity for data collection is relatively short. ![]() Age is an important parameter to better understand wildlife populations, and is especially relevant for interpreting data for fecundity, health, and survival assessments.
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