DETERMINING THE AGE OF A LEOPARD BY HIS TEETH? Q: Can one tell the age of the cats by taking images as seen on this post that show the discolouring of the teeth, fine cracks, as well as exposing the root canal etc? ANSWER: This is unfortunately a question that fuels many debates. Logic dictates that an animal’s teeth would be white and prestine at time of eruption and throughout life discolour (just like humans) and when older will have a yellowish brown discolouration. Further more logic, would have it that new teeth would be nice and sharp and as time elapses and they are eased to kill prey, masticate etc, they will have wear and later in life be blunter or have fractures which would separate them from the younger ones. The gingiva (gums) would be attached at the normal enamel-cementum interface, but with age and disease around a tooth this would lead to the ‘gingiva’ receding and exposing more of the root (cementum that covers the root). Although all of these principles are true, they unfortunately do not occur in a linear fashion. By that we mean that the process does not happen in a predictable manner so that we can put definitive ages on them. The wearing away of teeth may be affected by many factors which are not always equal to animals from differing areas. This also goes for difference in prey etc. In conclusion, all you can tell from pictures like these is that an animal is young or old, but the exact figure of how young or old - would be a guess? Dr Philip Stander did write a paper on Field age determination of leopards by tooth wear. He writes that - Age determination is an important tool in wildlife studies. Estimating the age of animals in the field using tooth wear criteria may be subject to error as a result of variations between individuals, habitats and populations. Data on age estimation of leopards and tooth wear characteristics are lacking. Nineteen leopards in Namibia were assessed for tooth eruption and wear. Between 1991 and 1995 leopards (induding 13 individuals of known age) were monitored at one year intervals (28 leopard years) to record age and tooth wear. At the age of two years leopards had fully developed dentition. Wear started with the incisors and canines, and spread to the premolars and molars. A chronology of tooth eruption and wear in relation to age is presented. Above the age of three years, male leopards showed higher frequencies of enamel flaking and canine fractures than females. We will post this report on our website soon and add the link under this post. Dr Gerhard Steenkamp and a few of his students are working on cheetah teeth to see if the amount of gum recession around the canines can be used as a way to tell age? Apparently research has shown this to be possible in tigers, on a VERY small number. We’ll see what happens when hundreds of cheetah measurements get into the database...... Watch this space . . .
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:33:31 +0000
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