Validation of aging keys for eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus

Abstract

Aging keys derived from captive grey kangaroos of known age were tested for their reliability in predicting the age of other captive animals of known age. Known ages were generally within the ranges of predicted ages. The aging keys were tested for consistency in age estimates derived from different body measurements. Although the age estimates for the additional captive animals were consistent, a sample of wild grey kangaroos appeared to have slightly different body proportions from those of the captive kangaroos.