Code for animal ID marking
An animal identification code is described comprising two numbers, one of which is encoded into a human-readable marking and the other of which is encoded into a machine-readable marking, where the two numbers and the two encodings are different. The combination of the two numbers, plus additional information not marked on a first animal, such as time of read, is looked up a first table to determine conditional validity and from there to a second table to determine a valid and unique animal ID associated with the animal, a primary key. The animal may be a rodent in a vivarium and the markings may be tattooed on the animal tail. The second marking may be a vine code with a spine where the spine is aligned with the animal tail. The first number may be unique within a first animal population such as an animal study. The combination of the first and second marking may be reused on a second animal wherein the lifetimes of the first and second animal do not overlap. The primary key is unique among all animals in a third population, dead or alive.
1. A system of marking animals in a (a) vivarium using an animal identification code comprising:
(b) a first number;
(c) wherein the first number is suitable to be encoded by a first encoding;
(d) a second number;
(e) wherein the second number is suitable to be encoded by a second encoding;
(f) a first marking;
(g) wherein the first marking is an output of the first number and the first encoding, and wherein the first marking is human-readable, and wherein the first marking is permanently marked on a first animal;
(h) a second marking;
(i) wherein the second marking is an output of the second number and the second encoding, and wherein the second marking is machine-readable, and wherein the second marking is marked on a first animal;
(j) a first primary key associated with the first animal;
(k) wherein a combination of the first number, the second number, and a first time window is associated with the first primary key and not associated with any other primary key; and wherein the first time window is associated with an expected lifetime of the first animal;
(l) wherein the first primary key is associated uniquely with the first animal in a first animal population; and wherein an each animal in the first animal population is associated with an each respective primary key, and wherein at least some animals in the first animal population have non-overlapping lifetimes;
(m) a second primary key;
(n) wherein the first marking is permanently marked on a second animal; and wherein the second marking is permanently marked on the second animal;
(o) wherein a combination of the first number, the second number, and a second time window are associated with the second primary key and not associated with any other primary key; and wherein the second time window is associated with a lifetime of the second animal;
(p) wherein the second primary key is associated uniquely with the second animal in the first animal population;
(q) wherein the first number and second number are distinct;
(r) wherein the first encoding and the second encoding are distinct;
(s) wherein the first and second time windows do not overlap;
(t) wherein the first animal population is in the vivarium.
2. The system of marking animals of claim 1 wherein:
no other markings are affixed to either the first animal or the second animal.
3. A method of marking animals in a vivarium comprising the steps:
wherein steps are performed by a machine;
creating a proposed, unique primary key for a first animal in a first population of animals in the vivarium;
selecting a first time window responsive to an expected life of the first animal;
selecting a first number;
selecting a second number;
verifying that a combination of the first number, the second number and the first time window is not associated with any existing primary key in an animal database;
associating the combination of the first number, the second number, and the first time window with the proposed, unique primary key for the first animal;
adding the proposed, unique primary key to the animal database as a new primary key;
encoding the first number with a first encoding to output a first marking;
encoding the second number with a second encoding to output a second marking;
marking the first animal with the first and second markings;
wherein the first number and the second number are distinct;
wherein the first encoding and the second encoding are distinct.