Guía para la determinación de la edad del ciervo ibérico (cervus elaphus hispanicus) a través de su denticiónrevisión metodológica y técnicas de elección

Résumé

Aging of hunted deer is essential to evaluate both the individual quality and the quality of the population as a whole, and puts into perspective questions about management and handling. The age determination is the best source of information to evaluate the results of the management undertaken, to monitor the achievement of objectives developed both medium and long term and to evaluate the consequences of the practices of previous management. It also constitutes as basic essential information to make predictions about the demographic future of the populations to manage, whether to increase their density or to limit it. It is also necessary to know the age with the greatest detail and precision as possible when subjects such as body growth, condition, reproduction, survival or longevity are investigated. This paper collects the most outstanding results of various methods and techniques for determining the age of the Iberian Deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) in the south of Spain, from the study of deer hunted in Oriental Sierra Morena and of a known age. Background is reviewed and methodological fundamentals with special reference to skeletochronology, the use of marks of growth in dental tissues evident through conventional histology or petrography. The limitation and intrinsic error to each method are discussed and explained as a kind of practical guide for interested veterinary, biologists and managers.