How are mammals ages estimated when a when a vet receives them, with zero prior knowledge?
In: Biology
With dogs, they look at the teeth. However, they cannot give a specific age, but an age range. If the teeth don’t have any plaque, have very little wear, then it’s a younger dog. if the yrryh have more plaque and more wear, they are older.
However, there are also factors that make it harder to tell. if the dog is a chewer, their teeth will be more worn, which will throw off the estimate. if the dog eats mostly wet food, they will have more plaque regardless of age, and throw off the estimate.
Wear on the teeth, as animals age the teeth get worn down is the first check then it depends on the animals size and things like bone growth development and deterioration.
A lot of things. Teeth are already mentioned.
Next of: Growth. If an animal is not fully grown, they know it’s before becoming an adult. Then there is the age that he has all right sizes, but his muscles aren’t 100% developped, so they know he’s a young adult.
Next: wear & tear: Some breeds develop an something called “glaucoma”, where there appears a green layer on the eye, causing bad eys sight, usually this does not develop until an animal reaches a specific age. (Compare to a man: when he’s got touches of grey hair, you’d assume he’s between 40 and 50, and if he’s fully gray, he’s probably over 60.)
Of course it remains a bit of guessing, but when you combine all these things, they can give you an estimate of the animals age.
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