Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans

被引:15
作者
Chapman, Simon N. [1 ]
Jackson, John [2 ]
Htut, Win [3 ]
Lummaa, Virpi [1 ]
Lahdenpera, Mirkka [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Turku, Dept Biol, Turku, Finland
[2] Univ Sheffield, Dept Anim & Plant Sci, Sheffield, S Yorkshire, England
[3] Minist Nat Resources & Environm Conservat, Myanma Timber Enterprise, Yangon, Myanmar
基金
芬兰科学院; 英国自然环境研究理事会; 欧洲研究理事会;
关键词
Asian elephant; Demography; Fertility; Long-term data; Post-reproductive life; Reproductive cessation; REPRODUCTIVE SUPPRESSION; FEMALE; HISTORY; AGE; POPULATION; MORTALITY; PATTERNS; PRIMATES;
D O I
10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1
中图分类号
Q [生物科学];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
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.
引用
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页数:11
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