October, 2009: CITES permit process and fees.

Female Black Bear reproductive histories: Effective 1 October, 2009, Matson’s will begin adding an additional charge of $1.20 for female black bears with reproductive history reconstructions. For those females with cementum evidence suggesting cub rearing, the reconstruction is an essential but time consuming part of age analysis. The charge will compensate for the additional time required. Price List

A photograph of a Washington black bear tooth section has been added to analysis of female reproductive histories.

Age analysis by Technicians: Some of our technicians have completed our in-house training program for age analysis of black bear, brown bear, elk, whitetail deer, mule deer, bobcat, raccoon, fisher, and marten. Gary Matson checks 10% of all samples aged by technicians, and 100% of the black bear reproductive histories. View a tabulation of precision (agreement between Gary’s result and technician’s result).

Laboratory processing prices. Effective Oct. 1, 2009.

New Cementum Analysis Order Form See also Shipping instructions. Effective Oct. 1, 2009.

January, 2009: Please note important changes in import requirements requiring fee payment and Customs Validation of CITES permits, effective January, 2009. Services for Canadian Clients; Shipping Specimens, International. Added January, 2009.

Effective 20 August 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requires the payment of a $55U.S. import fee for all parcels of teeth sent to the laboratory for processing. In addition, CITES permits must be validated by the Customs office of the exporting country. Services for Canadian Clients; Shipping Specimens, International. Added August, 2008.

New prices; Soft tissue service to be discontinued June 1, 2008. Added January, 2008.

New record ages for mink, badger. Matson’s Lab recently processed and analyzed a mink from France that is the oldest aged in this laboratory. The age of 10 years eclipsed the prior record of 9 years set by a mink from the Northwest Territories. Submitted by Christine Fournier. Experience, Accuracy and Precision. Added January, 2008.

Matson’s Lab recently processed and analyzed a Washington State badger tooth that is the oldest aged in this laboratory. The age of 19 years eclipsed the prior record of 15 years set by a Wyoming badger. Submitted by Nick Paulson. Experience, Accuracy and Precision. Added January, 2008.

New prices; Skeletochronology service discontinued; Advance scheduling requested. January, 2007.

Marten/fisher standardized tooth type: Lower PM4. Cementum Aging. Added December 10, 2005.

CITES. The CITES permit document has a “Valid until” box in which the exporter provides the date after which the permit is no longer valid. This date must allow a minimum of four months for unexpected delays in shipping, and in processing at Matson’s Lab. For example, if the permit date is 1 January and the samples will be sent sometime during the month of January, then the “Valid until” date should be 1 April or later. Canada. Added May 18.

New record pronghorn. Matson’s Lab recently processed and analyzed a North Dakota pronghorn tooth that is the oldest aged in this laboratory. The age of 17 years eclipsed the prior record of 15 years set by an Oregon pronghorn tooth and equaled by one from New Mexico. Submitted by Jesse Kolar. Experience, Accuracy and Precision. Added April 21, 2005.

Expected accuracy differs among whitetail deer populations.
A whitetail deer from a northern region typically has annuli with major and minor components that occur in a regular pattern of cementum deposition. In deer populations that are supplementally fed to produce more robust antlers and greater body size, cementum annulus complexity and irregularity of deposition are greater. These characteristics contribute to a greater age analysis difficulty and lower accuracy. For additional information, see Experience, Accuracy and Precision. Added April 15, 2005.

New information added about "Endangered or threatened species (ESA) permits," International shipments, and "Age Analysis Photo Reference," Prices. Added March 18, 2005.

Experience. Updated number of teeth aged from 1978 to December 31, 2002. Added January 6, 2005.

Schedule for processing samples from Private Hunter, Outfitter, Hunting Club, & Game Farm Clients. Added December 29, 2004.

Prices, effective January 1, 2005

A LABORATORY MANUAL FOR CEMENTUM AGE DETERMINATION OF ALASKA BROWN BEAR FIRST PREMOLAR TEETH by Gary Matson, Larry Van Daele, Enid Goodwin, Larry Aumiller, Harry Reynolds, Hank Hristienko. (File format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat. This is a large file and may take many minutes to load. Please be patient. See link bottom of description.)

Brown/grizzly bear age data derived from cementum aging have been questioned since the inception of the technique. In 1988, ADFG set out to evaluate the accuracy and precision of their aging techniques by comparing the results of various individual tooth agers using different methods. A test sample was assembled that included 75 tooth sections prepared from known age brown bear PM1 teeth, and 25 from assigned age teeth. ADFG biologist Larry Van Daele designed the evaluation and served as coordinator. Three Department personnel participated in the evaluation: Enid Goodwin, Harry Reynolds, and Larry Aumiller. The fourth participant was Gary Matson, owner of Matson's Laboratory. Participants' experience with cementum aging varied from 1 to 20+ years. Publications. Added October 27, 2004.

WORKBOOK FOR CEMENTUM ANALYSIS by Gary M. Matson. (File format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat. This is a large file and may take many minutes to load. Please be patient. See link bottom of description.)

The workbook is an attempt to provide the reader with enough background information to determine age for the tooth sections of several mammals. It is only a starting point; full development of each aging method requires supplementation and experience on an individual basis.

The need for standard methods arises from cementum variations that occur among species. To compensate for the variation, the writer developed a standard method of analysis for aging the tooth sections of each species. The standard methods are based on the diagrammatic models and photographs that are the substance of this workbook. As a further effor to attain standardization, the type of tooth (e.g. I1, PM1, etc.) and the plane of section are specified in the models.

Species discussed include White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Elk (Cervus canadensis), Moose (Alces alces), Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), Sheep (Ovis), Caribou (Rangifer tarandus), Bobcat (Lynx rufus), Fox (Vulpes), Coyote (Canis latrans), Otter (Lutra canadensis), Badger (Taxidea taxus), Black bear (Ursis americanus), Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), and Raccoon (Procyon lotor). Cementum Aging or Publications. Added October 7, 2004.