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'pekerjaan rumah tangga' ekstrim memotong rentang hidup betina Komodo Dragon
Extreme 'housework' cuts the life span of female Komodo dragons
Date:
October 17,
2012
Source:
University of Melbourne
Summary:
Researchers have found that female Komodo dragons live
half as long as males on average, seemingly due to their physically demanding
"housework" such as building huge nests and guarding eggs for up to
six months.
........................
An international team of researchers has found that female
Komodo Dragons live half as long as males on average, seemingly due to their physically
demanding 'housework' such as building huge nests and guarding eggs for up to
six months.
The results
provide important information on the endangered lizards' growth rate, lifestyle
and population differences, which may help plan conservation efforts.
The Komodo
dragon is the world's largest lizard. Their formidable body size enables them
to serve as top predators killing water buffalo, deer and wild boar and they
have also been known to kill humans.
A research
team which included scientists from the University of Melbourne, Australia,
Indonesia and Italy studied 400 individual Komodo Dragons for 10 years in
eastern Indonesia, their only native habitat. The team then produced a model of
the Dragon's growth rate, with results published in the current issue of
international journal PLoS ONE.
Males live
to around 60 years of age, reaching an average 160 cm in snout-vent length (not
including tail) and 65 kg at adulthood. However their female counterparts were
estimated to live an average of 32 years and reach only 120 cm in snout-vent
length, and 22 kg.
Dr Tim
Jessop from the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne was a
co-author on the study and said that the team were surprised by the
significantly shorter lifespan of the female Komodo Dragon.
"The
sex-based difference in size appears to be linked to the enormous amounts of
energy females invest in producing eggs, building and guarding their nests. The
process can take up to six months during which they essentially fast, losing a
lot of weight and body condition, he said.
"Males
and females start off at the same size until they reach sexual maturity at
around seven years of age. From then on females grow slower, shorter and die
younger."
The research
team was keen to understand the growth rate of the Komodo Dragons as this
critical process can indicate how the species prioritises its energy use in
lifestyle and reproductive strategies. The results suggest that females have
high energy 'costs' for reproduction resulting in their smaller size, whereas
to reproduce successfully, males must keep increasing in size.
The results
could have dramatic consequences for the endangered species as early female
deaths may be exacerbating competition between males over the remaining
females, possibly explaining why males are the world's largest lizards.
"These
results may seem odd to humans when the life span between Australian men and
women differ by five years. But each species has different strategies to pass
on their genes. For example humans invest a lot of energy in few children as
raising them is very energy intensive, whereas insects will have hundreds of
offspring with no input into their rearing."
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided by University of Melbourne. Note: Materials may be edited
for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
- Rebecca J. Laver, Deni Purwandana, Achmad Ariefiandy, Jeri Imansyah, David Forsyth, Claudio Ciofi, Tim S. Jessop. Life-History and Spatial Determinants of Somatic Growth Dynamics in Komodo Dragon Populations. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (9): e45398 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045398
