Home on the Range
Posted by Mike Nix on October 28, 2003
Q: In your comments on a lesson on birds, several birds were stated to have lived for a certain number of years in captivity. An owl was reported to have lived 100 yrs., but this was not confirmed. Are there ways to confirm the age of the owl, except through observation in captivity or by tagging?
A: None that I'm aware of. I think trying to age adult birds would be similar to trying to age humans without any prior history of the individual. You could come up with an approximate age but that would be subject to a host of factors and could be way off. With animals that continually grow, like fish, one can look at certain bones that show tiny lines of growth that are similar to tree rings. These lines can be counted and give reliable age information but this doesn't work for birds. Keep in mind that captive birds will be much more likely to live to a greater age than wild birds, so these figures don't reflect "normal" age records.
John Wiessinger ( October 29, 2003)