Sex bias in mortality risk changes over the lifespan of bottlenose dolphins

Abstract

Research on sex biases in longevity in mammals often assumes that male investment in competition results in a female survival advantage that is constant throughout life. We use 35 years of longitudinal data on 1003 wild bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ) to examine age-specific mortality, demonstrating a time-varying effect of sex on mortality hazard over the five-decade lifespan of a social mammal. Males are at higher risk of mortality than females during the juvenile period, but the gap between male and female mortality hazard closes in the mid-teens, coincident with the onset of female reproduction. Female mortality hazard is non-significantly higher than male mortality hazard in adulthood, resulting in a moderate male bias in the oldest age class. Bottlenose dolphins have an intensely male-competitive mating system, and juvenile male mortality has been linked to social competition. Contrary to predictions from sexual selection theory, however, male–male competition does not result in sustained male-biased mortality. As female dolphins experience high costs of sexual coercion in addition to long and energetically expensive periods of gestation and lactation, this suggests that substantial female investment in reproduction can elevate female mortality risk and impact sex biases in lifespan.