THE DENTITION OF RED DEER (CERVUS-ELAPHUS) - A SCORING SCHEME TO ASSESS AGE FROM WEAR OF THE PERMANENT MOLARIFORM TEETH

Skulls of red deer (Cervus elaphus) of known age were examined. A scoring procedure devised for fallow deer (Dama dama) was used to relate tooth wear to a particular age (Brown & Chapman, 1990). The precise sequential nature of tooth wear as it appeared on the slopes and tips of cusps, on the marginal ridges and links between cusps was recorded. From these data a base has been provided from which estimates of age may be made of animals of unknown age. The variability for the scores are given for 95% prediction intervals from the regression of age on total molar wear score.