Elephants born when mothers are stressed age faster and produce fewer offspring

Public Release: 14-Sep-2015
Elephants born when mothers are stressed age faster and produce fewer offspring
University of Sheffield

Elephants born into stressful situations have fewer offspring and age faster, researchers at the University of Sheffield have found.

Scientists discovered that Asian elephants born during times when their mothers experience highest stress levels produce significantly fewer offspring in their lifetime despite having higher rates of reproduction at an early age.

The research team, from the University's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, also found that those animals born under stress declined much more rapidly in older age, decades later.

Lead author Dr Hannah Mumby, said: "Poor early life conditions have been linked to many disease outcomes in humans, but is unknown whether stress in early life also speeds up ageing rates in long-lived species."

"We found that the decline in reproduction with age is much steeper in the elephants born at the poorer time of year. Even though they reproduce slightly more when they're young, this still doesn't compensate for the steep decline and they end up with fewer offspring."

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