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The validity of horn ring counts to determine the age of Scottish feral goats (Capra (domestic))
Author(s) -
Bullock David J.,
Pickerinc Simon P.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1984.tb05052.x
Subject(s) - french horn , biology , bovidae , capra , capra hircus , demography , age groups , zoology , ecology , psychology , pedagogy , sociology
The use of horn ring counts to age species in the tribes Caprini and Rupricaprini (Bovidae) has been well documented. Few studies have, however, tested the validity of the method. This paper compares the number of horn rings with age in years for individually known Scottish feral goats (Capra (domestic)). For all age‐sex classes, except females older than two years, the number of horn rings corresponded exactly to the age in years. The discrepancies amongst older females were attributed to difficulties in counting their horn rings due to the small size of the horn and wear.