Anyone Can Get Old—All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Timing and Cause of Death
3.2. The Influence of Habitat Type (Urban/Rural) and Sex on the Amount of Road-Killed Individuals
3.3. The Effects of Genetic Heterozygosity on Age-at-Death
3.4. Exploring the Association between Age-at-Death and Degree of Inbreeding, Cause of Death (Traffic/Non-Traffic), and the Interaction between Them
3.5. Life Table Analyses
4. Discussion
4.1. Periosteal Growth Lines
4.2. Timing and Cause of Death
4.3. Testing the Influence of Habitat Type (Urban/Rural) and Sex on the Number of Road-Killed Individuals and Using Data on Road-Killed Individuals for Population-Level Research
4.4. The Effects of Genetic Heterozygosity on Longevity
4.5. Exploring the Association between Age-at-Death and Degree of Inbreeding, Cause of Death (Traffic/Non-Traffic), and the Interaction between Them
4.6. Life Table Analyses and the Life Expectancy of Females and Males
4.7. Life Expectancy, Risks, and the Effects on Breeding
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Author | Country | Technique | Period | Sample Size | Mean Age | Age Span | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | Male | Total | Female | Male | Total | ||||||
Brockie [47] | New Zealand | Tooth abrasions | 143 | 0.4 (see table text) | 0–2 | ||||||
Brockie [64] | New Zealand | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 83 | <2.7* or 1.8 (see table text) | 0–7 | ||||||
Dickman [48] | United Kingdom | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 1982–84 | 87 | 3.3* | 1–8 | |||||
Döpke [49] | Germany | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 1980–2001 | 32 | 34 | 66 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0–6 | |
Haigh, Kelly, Butler and O’Riordan [50] | Ireland | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 2008–2011 | 31 | 46 | 83 (6 of unknown sex) | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0–9 | |
Heddergott [51] | Thüringen, Germany | Tooth growth lines | 1993–2002 | 81 | 99 | 185 (5 of unknown sex) | 2.5 | 2.1 | 2.3* | 1–7 | |
Heddergott [52] | Harz, Germany | Tooth growth lines | 1997–2002 | 49 | 57 | 106 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.5* | 1–4 | |
Heddergott [53] | Germany, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt (Thüringen) | Tooth growth lines | 1992–2003 | 44 | 37 | 81 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 2.2* | 1–8 | |
Heddergott and Müller [54] | Germany, Osthessen | Tooth growth lines | 1980–2006 | 62 | 61 | 124 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.8* | 1–6 | |
Heddergott, Steinbach and Heddergott [55] | Germany, Heilbad Heiligenstadt (Thüringen) | Tooth growth lines | 1998–2004 | 62 | 51 | 113 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.3* | 1–7 | |
Heyne [56] | Germany | Tooth abrasions+ Tooth growth lines | 1981–89 | 62 | 2* | 1–5 | |||||
Kristoffersson [58] | Finland | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 1960–61 | 67 | 2.7* (individuals < 500 g excluded) | 1–7 | |||||
Scott-Hayward [68] | Uists, Outer Hebrides, UK | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 66 | 2.6* | 1–6 | ||||||
Morris [36], Morris [41], Morris [60] | Southern England, United Kingdom | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 1965–68 | 102 | 127 | 244 (15 of unknown sex) | 1.7 | 0–6 | |||
Neuschulz and Schubert [60] | Dresden-Bühlau, Germany | Capture-mark-recapture | 1984–89 | 125 (60 adults and 65 juveniles marked, 53 recaptured over 5 years) | 2.1* | 1–6 | |||||
Parkes [65] | Manawatu, New Zealand | Capture-mark-recapture + calculation using a formula [66] | 1970–1971 | 144 (73 juveniles) | 2.0 | ||||||
Rasmussen et al. 2023 (present study) | Denmark | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 2016 | 109 | 177 | 388 (101 of unknown sex) | 1.6 | 2.2 (1.6 for unknown sex) | 1.8 | 0–16 | |
Rautio, Kunnasranta, Valtonen, Ikonen, Hyvarinen, Holopainen and Kukkonen [61] | Finland | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 2004–2005 | 31 | 34 | 65 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0–7 | |
Reeve, Love and Shore [42] | United Kingdom | Mandible (periosteal growth lines) | 1988–89 | 68 | 1.6 | 0–7 | |||||
Skoudlin [62] | Czech republic | Tooth abrasions | 43 | 63 | 106 | 2.5* | 1–5 | ||||
Skoudlin [63] | Czech republic, Bohemina and Moravia | Tooth abrasions | 215 | 2.1 | 0–6 |
Age in Years | Number of Individuals | Sex | Distribution by Sex |
---|---|---|---|
0 | 109 | ||
Male | 43 | ||
Female | 39 | ||
Unknown | 27 | ||
1 | 115 | ||
Male | 54 | ||
Female | 21 | ||
Unknown | 40 | ||
2 | 54 | ||
Male | 23 | ||
Female | 15 | ||
Unknown | 16 | ||
3 | 53 | ||
Male | 29 | ||
Female | 18 | ||
Unknown | 6 | ||
4 | 22 | ||
Male | 6 | ||
Female | 9 | ||
Unknown | 7 | ||
5 | 15 | ||
Male | 7 | ||
Female | 6 | ||
Unknown | 2 | ||
6 | 11 | ||
Male | 8 | ||
Female | 1 | ||
Unknown | 2 | ||
9 | 2 | ||
Male | 2 | ||
Female | 0 | ||
Unknown | 0 | ||
10 | 4 | ||
Male | 2 | ||
Female | 0 | ||
Unknown | 2 | ||
11 | 1 | ||
Male | 1 | ||
Female | 0 | ||
Unknown | 0 | ||
13 | 1 | ||
Male | 1 | ||
Female | 0 | ||
Unknown | 0 | ||
16 | 1 | ||
Male | 1 | ||
Female | 0 | ||
Unknown | 0 | ||
Total individuals | 388 |
x | lx | ndx | nqx | npx | nLx | Tx | ex | nmx | nax |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 177 | 43 | 0.243 | 0.757 | 155.5 | 460.5 | 2.602 | 0.277 | 0.5 |
1 | 134 | 54 | 0.403 | 0.597 | 107.0 | 305.0 | 2.276 | 0.505 | 0.5 |
2 | 80 | 23 | 0.287 | 0.713 | 68.5 | 198.0 | 2.475 | 0.336 | 0.5 |
3 | 57 | 29 | 0.509 | 0.491 | 42.5 | 129.5 | 2.272 | 0.682 | 0.5 |
4 | 28 | 6 | 0.214 | 0.786 | 25.0 | 87.0 | 3.107 | 0.240 | 0.5 |
5 | 22 | 7 | 0.318 | 0.682 | 18.5 | 62.0 | 2.818 | 0.378 | 0.5 |
6 | 15 | 8 | 0.533 | 0.467 | 11.0 | 43.5 | 2.900 | 0.727 | 0.5 |
7 | 7 | 0 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 7.0 | 32.5 | 4.643 | 0.000 | 0.5 |
8 | 7 | 0 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 7.0 | 25.5 | 3.643 | 0.000 | 0.5 |
9 | 7 | 2 | 0.286 | 0.714 | 6.0 | 18.5 | 2.643 | 0.333 | 0.5 |
10 | 5 | 2 | 0.400 | 0.600 | 4.0 | 12.5 | 2.500 | 0.500 | 0.5 |
11 | 3 | 1 | 0.333 | 0.667 | 2.5 | 8.5 | 2.833 | 0.400 | 0.5 |
12 | 2 | 0 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 3.000 | 0.000 | 0.5 |
13 | 2 | 1 | 0.500 | 0.500 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 2.000 | 0.667 | 0.5 |
14 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.500 | 0.000 | 0.5 |
15 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.500 | 0.000 | 0.5 |
16 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.500 | 2.000 | 0.5 |
17 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 0.0 | - | - | 0.5 |
x | lx | ndx | nqx | npx | nLx | Tx | ex | nmx | nax |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 109 | 39 | 0.358 | 0.642 | 89.5 | 231.5 | 2.124 | 0.436 | 0.5 |
1 | 70 | 21 | 0.300 | 0.700 | 59.5 | 142.0 | 2.029 | 0.353 | 0.5 |
2 | 49 | 15 | 0.306 | 0.694 | 41.5 | 82.5 | 1.684 | 0.361 | 0.5 |
3 | 34 | 18 | 0.529 | 0.471 | 25.0 | 41.0 | 1.206 | 0.720 | 0.5 |
4 | 16 | 9 | 0.562 | 0.438 | 11.5 | 16.0 | 1.000 | 0.783 | 0.5 |
5 | 7 | 6 | 0.857 | 0.143 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 0.643 | 1.500 | 0.5 |
6 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.500 | 2.000 | 0.5 |
7 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 0.0 | - | - | 0.5 |
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Rasmussen, S.L.; Berg, T.B.; Martens, H.J.; Jones, O.R. Anyone Can Get Old—All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus). Animals 2023, 13, 626. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13040626
Rasmussen SL, Berg TB, Martens HJ, Jones OR. Anyone Can Get Old—All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus). Animals. 2023; 13(4):626. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13040626
Chicago/Turabian StyleRasmussen, Sophie Lund, Thomas B. Berg, Helle Jakobe Martens, and Owen R. Jones. 2023. "Anyone Can Get Old—All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)" Animals 13, no. 4: 626. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13040626