Less-invasive age estimation using hair based on DNA methylation in brown bears
Shiori Nakamura, Jumpei Yamazaki, Naoya Matsumoto, Kyogo Hagino, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Masami Yamanaka, Masanao Nakanishi, Mina Jimbo, Yojiro Yanagawa, Hideyuki Ito, Toshio Tsubota, Michito Shimozuru · 2025
Read Less-invasive age estimation using hair based on DNA methylation in brown bears by Shiori Nakamura, Jumpei Yamazaki, Naoya Matsumoto, Kyogo Hagino, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Masami Yamanaka, Masanao Nakanishi, Mina Jimbo, Yojiro Yanagawa, Hideyuki Ito, Toshio Tsubota, Michito Shimozuru (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12753630.txt.
Description
Shiori Nakamura, Jumpei Yamazaki, Naoya Matsumoto, and a wider team wrote this research paper, published in 2025. It builds a gentler way to tell a brown bear's age: reading chemical marks on DNA taken from hair, instead of pulling a tooth or catching the bear.
Age shapes how wildlife is studied and protected, but classic aging needs a captured or dead animal. The team measured marks at spots near three genes in hair root DNA. Marks near two of the genes tracked age best. Their model guessed ages with an average error of about three years. Because hair can be snagged from wild bears without touching them, the authors say the method could reveal the age mix of whole wild populations and aid their care.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shiori Nakamura, Jumpei Yamazaki, Naoya Matsumoto, Kyogo Hagino, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Masami Yamanaka, Masanao Nakanishi, Mina Jimbo, Yojiro Yanagawa, Hideyuki Ito, Toshio Tsubota, Michito Shimozuru |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 36 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |