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Female Lemurs Play It Safe, Live Longer, Study Suggests

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2013Natureadipose tissue, brian gerber, colorado state university, endangered lemur species, escape from predators, females, hormone level, lifestyle, male testes, masculinized genitalia, milne edwards sifaka, mortality risk factors, mystery, patricia wright, primate, rainforest dweller, rainforests of madagascar, ranomafana national park, safer sex, shu fahk, southeastern madagascar, stacey tecot, stephen king, stony brook university, ua anthropologist, university of massachusetts

Females of a little-known primate from the rainforests of Madagascar have been known to outlive their male peers by many years, despite no obvious differences in hormone levels or lifestyle. A team led by a UA anthropologist has found the likely answer to the mystery.

Researchers studying aging in an endangered lemur species report that in old age, females are the safer sex: They live much longer than their male peers.

Females tend to outlive males in many animals, including humans. But in the Milne-Edwards’ sifaka – a rainforest-dweller with orange-red eyes, a black face and woolly dark brown fur – the sexes didn’t seem to differ in any of the ways thought to give females a survival advantage in other animals. (more…)

Research Maps Out Trade-offs Between Deer and Timber

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In a sweeping study of a huge swath of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Michigan State University researchers document that in many places the sugar maple saplings that should be thriving following harvesting are instead ending up as a deer buffet. This means the hardwood forests are not regenerating.

Since the 1950s, sustainability in northern hardwood forests was achieved by chopping down trees in small clumps to naturally make room for new ones to spring up. Early experiments with single-tree and group selection logging found that desirable species like sugar maples did a great job of regenerating in the sunny, rain-drenched harvest gaps – theoretically eliminating the need to replant. (more…)

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Female Lemurs Play It Safe, Live Longer, Study Suggests

Research Maps Out Trade-offs Between Deer and Timber