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Northern Sea Otter Aging Criteria: data

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Measurement of skull ossification patterns is a standard method for aging various mammalian species and has been used to age Russian, Californian, and Alaskan sea otter populations. Cementum annuli counts have also been verified as an accurate aging method for the Alaskan sea otter population. In this study, cementum annuli count results and skull ossification patterns were compared as methods for aging the northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) population in Washington State. Significant agreement was found between the two methods suggesting that either method could be used to age the Washington population of otters. This study also found that ossification of the squamosal-jugal suture at the ventral glenoid fossa can be used to accurately differentiate male subadults from adults. To assist field biologists or others without access to cementum annuli or skull ossification analysis techniques, a suite of morphologic, physiologic, and developmental characteristics were analyzed to assess whether a set of these more easily accessible parameters could also reliably predict age class for the Washington population of otters. Tooth condition score, evidence of reproductive activity in females, and tooth eruption pattern were identified as the most useful criteria for classifying Washington sea otters as pups, juveniles, subadults, or adults/aged adults. A simple decision tree based on characteristics accessible in the field or at necropsy was created that can be used to reliably predict age class of Washington sea otters as determined by cementum annuli.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/bcd25fc5d4379acd0bf3f07387bb1fbf
Identifier USGS:5ac25446e4b0e2c2dd0aa0a4
Data Last Modified 20201020
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id cc77e799-eba5-4039-b9a1-5081c5bd80f7
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -124.93652343609,45.367276977717,-116.14746093644,49.095165665571
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash b022bc59e3b3333feaac2cd203c76bcfbb389982613ec1babaac44675e991a6b
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -124.93652343609, 45.367276977717, -124.93652343609, 49.095165665571, -116.14746093644, 49.095165665571, -116.14746093644, 45.367276977717, -124.93652343609, 45.367276977717}

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