Reproductive cessation and post-reproductive lifespan in Asian elephants and pre-industrial humans.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Short post-reproductive lifespan is widespread across species, but prolonged post-reproductive life-stages of potential adaptive significance have been reported only in few mammals with extreme longevity. Long post-reproductive lifespan contradicts classical evolutionary predictions of simultaneous senescence in survival and reproduction, and raises the question of whether extreme longevity in mammals promotes such a life-history. Among terrestrial mammals, elephants share the features with great apes and humans, of having long lifespan and offspring with long dependency. However, little data exists on the frequency of post-reproductive lifespan in elephants. Here we use extensive demographic records on semi-captive Asian elephants (n = 1040) and genealogical data on p

SUBMITTER: Lahdenpera M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4144032 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature