Saturday, March 21, 2026

What do trees and mammals have in common?

 It’s a pretty universally known fact:

That you can determine the age of a tree by the number of rings it has.

But with certain mammals, you can also apply the same logic to determine their age.

Mountain goats, for example:

Develop a seasonal ring on their horns. Their age is equal to the number of rings they have minus one. (Source: Reliability of Age Determination of Mountain Goats. Stevens, Victoria)

With the Scottish Feral Goats:

The number of rings on their horns will correlate precisely to their age.