Females have the greatest life expectancy in mammals

2020/03/25 Gallego Moya, Juanma - Kazetaria Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia
• Biologia

Among mammals, the average survival of females is 18.6% higher than that of females, according to data presented by an international group of researchers in the journal PNAS.

The amount doubles the difference between humans. In fact, although in humans women live more than men, female survival is only 7.8% higher. The difference between sexes is especially significant for extreme people: 90% of people over 110 are women.

Data from 134 populations of 101 mammal species have been used to reach these conclusions, and although the difference is in most species, there are species in which males live the most. They are horses and some species of bats and rabbits.

At the moment the underlying reason for these differences is not clear, but hypotheses have been raised as genetic reasons based on chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA or roles associated with reproduction.

Although all types of mammals have been analyzed, the authors have recognized that the research has a small bias. They say that many species of small rodents have not been able to enter the study, since currently there is no safe data on the survival of these animals.