Age Validation in Animals

Age validation research in animals is needed for experiments measuring the demographics of animal life expectancy, mortality rates, etc.

Age validation research in animals is primarily divided into two sets: those that can be measured in a lab experiment (such as a mouse) and those in the wild.

For those in the wild, microchip technology can assist with tagged individuals.

In some cases, biological markers can be used in discerning an animal's age.

A giant clam, for example, tends to add one growth ring a year to its shell.

With fish, measurements of earbones often are used to compute an estimated age.

The reliability of various methods of validation is a subject of discussion among scientists.

Age research in animals is, first and foremost, dependent upon the quality of the data.