Abstract

VILLA, Madeleyne; MIRANDA-CHUMACERO, Guido  and  WALLACE, Robert. Estimating age of Tayassu pecari and Pecari tajacu using tooth analyses (Artiodactyla: Tayassuidae). Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2013, vol.84, n.4, pp.1167-1178. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.7550/rmb.33963.

Age in mammals is usually estimated using weight and morphometric measurements of anatomical structures of growth, as well as by tooth wear. Another tooth analysis method is counting the growth layers of the root's dental cementum that alternates in light and dark bands corresponding to seasonal changes. This study estimates the ages and correlation level between the tooth wear and counting growth layers methods from a sample of 106 individuals of Tayassu pecari and 29 of Pecari tajacu from the subsistence hunting activities in the Takana indigenous communal lands "Tierra Comunitaria de Origen Takana- I" northern La Paz Department, Bolivia. The tooth wear method classified premolars and molars into seven age classes according to a previously designed peccary tooth wear key. A histological technique was also applied to count of growth layers in incisors. The tooth wear method estimated ages from 1 to 12 years old, although 12% of the samples had contradictions caused by a variation among individuals of the third molar eruption. The counting growth layer method was successfully applied to 80% of the sample, with estimated ages from 1 to 18 years old, however it was more difficult to differentiate between adjacent growth layers for older individuals. These 2 methods were significantly correlated for T. pecari (r= 0.87; p< 0.05) and P. tajacu (r= 0.86; p< 0.05), and presented very similar estimates for individuals estimated to be between 2 to 10 years in T. pecari and 1 to 4 years in P. tajacu.

Keywords : growth layers; cementum; age; dental; teeth; wear.