Chapter 21 - Age estimation

Title

Chapter 21 - Age estimation

Creator

George JC; Lubetkin SC; Zeh JE; Thewissen JGM; Wetzel D; Givens GH

Publisher

The Bowhead Whale

Date

2021
2021-01-01

Description

In the late 1980s, annual carbon isotope cycles in the baleen plates of bowhead whales formed the basis of the first effective means of estimating bowhead age. However, the baleen aging method could only be used for aging subadult whales less than about 20 years old, due to wearing of the plates. Since then, seven additional methods of estimating the age of bowheads have been developed. Each age estimation method has strengths and weaknesses depending on the life stage of the whale. No single method is fully applicable through the entire 200-year lifespan of a bowhead, although a combination of techniques can be quite effective and precise.

Subject

bowhead; stable isotopes; tympanic bulla; Age estimation; aspartic acid racemization; ovarian corpora counts; whaling artifacts

Identifier

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Format

journalArticle

Search for Full-text

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Pages

309-322

NEOMED College

NEOMED College of Medicine

NEOMED Department

Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology

Update Year & Number

January 2021 List

Citation

George JC; Lubetkin SC; Zeh JE; Thewissen JGM; Wetzel D; Givens GH, “Chapter 21 - Age estimation,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed March 29, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/11547.