Snout-vent length
Morphometric measurement used in herpetology / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snout–vent length (SVL) is the length of an animal's body. It is measured from the tip of its snout to its rear end. The snout is the part of the face at the front. Snout-vent length does not count the tail or any teeth or tusks.[1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png)
So, in a frog, it is the length of the frog's body but not the frog's legs. For turtles, scientists use carapace length (CL, the length of the shell) and plastral length (PL) instead.
The SVL can change depending on whether the animal is alive, dead, moving, or still. It can change if scientists have used chemicals to stop its dead body from rotting.[2] Scientists also use snout-vent length on fossils. With fossils, they use osteological correlate, which is a way the bone can match the rest of the body. Precaudal length is one osteological correlate. A scientist can look at the animal's SVL, weight, and body and may be able to tell if it is male or female or how old it is.[3]