Fig. 4
The power cascade can predict the age of mammals with ever-growing teeth. a Tusk Radius increases with Distance for male (USNM 49759 right tusk) and female (USNM 165501 right tusk) African elephants Loxodonta africana [29] following the power cascade. Intercept differs between male (1.229; R2 = 0.991) and female (1.050; R2 = 0.995) tusks and therefore could be used to determine sex of isolated tusks. Slope is similar for both sexes (0.303 and 0.287, respectively). b Tusk Radius at the lip line increases with Age according to the power cascade. SlopeAge differs between males (0.712; R2 = 0.927) and females (0.453; R2 = 0.957). Mean tusk radius in yearly age classes for 247 females and 99 males [28]. c Zaisan mole vole Ellobius tancrei incisor Radius increases with Age according to the power cascade during juvenile growth, and then dramatically decreases growth rate in adulthood. Segmented linear regression of log variables shown as black line. Juvenile SlopeAge = 0.231, R2 = 0.875. Incisor radius for 158 mole voles with known age [30]