Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans
Abstract Background The existence of extended post-reproductive lifespan is an evolutionary puzzle, and its taxonomic prevalence is debated. One way of measuring post-reproductive life is with post-reproductive representation, the proportion of adult years lived by females after cessation of reprodu...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4f39265868ba4a359729f668a7e87813 2023-05-15T18:33:25+02:00 Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans Simon N. Chapman John Jackson Win Htut Virpi Lummaa Mirkka Lahdenperä 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 https://doaj.org/article/4f39265868ba4a359729f668a7e87813 EN eng BMC http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 https://doaj.org/toc/1471-2148 doi:10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 1471-2148 https://doaj.org/article/4f39265868ba4a359729f668a7e87813 BMC Evolutionary Biology, Vol 19, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2019) Asian elephant Demography Fertility Long-term data Post-reproductive life Reproductive cessation Evolution QH359-425 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 2022-12-31T07:47:16Z Abstract Background The existence of extended post-reproductive lifespan is an evolutionary puzzle, and its taxonomic prevalence is debated. One way of measuring post-reproductive life is with post-reproductive representation, the proportion of adult years lived by females after cessation of reproduction. Analyses of post-reproductive representation in mammals have claimed that only humans and some toothed whale species exhibit extended post-reproductive life, but there are suggestions of a post-reproductive stage for false killer whales and Asian elephants. Here, we investigate the presence of post-reproductive lifespan in Asian elephants using an extended demographic dataset collected from semi-captive timber elephants in Myanmar. Furthermore, we investigate the sensitivity of post-reproductive representation values to availability of long-term data over 50 years. Results We find support for the presence of an extended post-reproductive stage in Asian elephants, and that post-reproductive representation and its underlying demographic rates depend on the length of study period in a long-lived animal. Conclusions The extended post-reproductive lifespan is unlikely due to physiological reproductive cessation, and may instead be driven by mating preferences or condition-dependent fertility. Our results also show that it is crucial to revisit such population measures in long-lived species as more data is collected, and if the typical lifespan of the species exceeds the initial study period. Article in Journal/Newspaper toothed whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles BMC Evolutionary Biology 19 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Asian elephant Demography Fertility Long-term data Post-reproductive life Reproductive cessation Evolution QH359-425 |
spellingShingle |
Asian elephant Demography Fertility Long-term data Post-reproductive life Reproductive cessation Evolution QH359-425 Simon N. Chapman John Jackson Win Htut Virpi Lummaa Mirkka Lahdenperä Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
topic_facet |
Asian elephant Demography Fertility Long-term data Post-reproductive life Reproductive cessation Evolution QH359-425 |
description |
Abstract Background The existence of extended post-reproductive lifespan is an evolutionary puzzle, and its taxonomic prevalence is debated. One way of measuring post-reproductive life is with post-reproductive representation, the proportion of adult years lived by females after cessation of reproduction. Analyses of post-reproductive representation in mammals have claimed that only humans and some toothed whale species exhibit extended post-reproductive life, but there are suggestions of a post-reproductive stage for false killer whales and Asian elephants. Here, we investigate the presence of post-reproductive lifespan in Asian elephants using an extended demographic dataset collected from semi-captive timber elephants in Myanmar. Furthermore, we investigate the sensitivity of post-reproductive representation values to availability of long-term data over 50 years. Results We find support for the presence of an extended post-reproductive stage in Asian elephants, and that post-reproductive representation and its underlying demographic rates depend on the length of study period in a long-lived animal. Conclusions The extended post-reproductive lifespan is unlikely due to physiological reproductive cessation, and may instead be driven by mating preferences or condition-dependent fertility. Our results also show that it is crucial to revisit such population measures in long-lived species as more data is collected, and if the typical lifespan of the species exceeds the initial study period. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Simon N. Chapman John Jackson Win Htut Virpi Lummaa Mirkka Lahdenperä |
author_facet |
Simon N. Chapman John Jackson Win Htut Virpi Lummaa Mirkka Lahdenperä |
author_sort |
Simon N. Chapman |
title |
Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
title_short |
Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
title_full |
Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
title_fullStr |
Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
title_full_unstemmed |
Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
title_sort |
asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 https://doaj.org/article/4f39265868ba4a359729f668a7e87813 |
genre |
toothed whale |
genre_facet |
toothed whale |
op_source |
BMC Evolutionary Biology, Vol 19, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2019) |
op_relation |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 https://doaj.org/toc/1471-2148 doi:10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 1471-2148 https://doaj.org/article/4f39265868ba4a359729f668a7e87813 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1 |
container_title |
BMC Evolutionary Biology |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766218027242618880 |