The Lifespan of Non-Human Female Mammals Is Longer Than That of Males

International research shows that not only humans but also female mammals tend to live longer than males.

Scientists have known for many years that women often live longer than men in humans, and the reasons remain to be unraveled. Some believe it's because women have identical chromosome pairs. Others suggest that men lead more high-risk lifestyles, and still others attribute it to age-related diseases. Regardless of the cause, previous research showed that there is a 7.8% gap in the lifespan between men and women in humans.

Researchers have discovered new evidence that this is the case for most mammals.

To better understand the overall lifespan of mammals, researchers collected and analyzed data from 134 populations of 101 species. They also studied the lifespans of gorilla and orca populations.

Researchers found that in the species studied, 60% of females lived longer than males. Female mammals had an average lifespan 18.6% longer than male animals. The gap widened as mammals aged, just as it does for humans. Previous research showed that 9 out of 10 centenarians were women.

This study is the most extensive of its kind to date, as it includes a large number of species. They also point out that the longer studies have been conducted on mammalian species, the more accurate the lifespan estimates are.

This research report was published in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*.