Adult Male - the muscles along the centre line on top of the skull joined for a distance of 28mm (diameter of a toonie) or more. This male was 3-4 years of age based on cementum annuli aging.
A sample of skinned marten heads were collected from Alberta trappers to use as part of a training initiative. The Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation at Lethbridge College kindly offered to create 3D images of the marten so they can be used as teaching aids in future trapper education courses. Observing the degree of muscle coalescence on top of their heads once they are skinned allow a trapper to report age class (adult or juvenile) of their catch. Combining the age of harvest with trapper effort over time will help when assessing the status and trends in marten populations.
Comments