female parent mongooses can adapt their body chemistry to harbor their unborn pups from likely cell damage , but it come at a cost . After giving birth , the female parent might have higher levels of toxin in her blood . The findings were print inFrontiers in Ecology and Evolutionlast month .
Across the fauna realm , invest in reproduction can often be dearly-won to survival of the fittest . According to one theory , pregnancy may increase the mother ’s grade of toxic metabolism byproducts ( or metabolite ) that get what ’s call oxidative wrong . Oxidative damage naturally go on throughout the lifespan of both male and female , and high levels of it lowers the survival of both sexes . However , because it could have negative shock on developing offspring , it would be estimable for females to lower those toxin levels somehow – even temporarily .
To meditate this so - call oxidative shielding in the wilderness , University of Exeter ’s Emma Vitikainen and colleagues followed a population of banded mongooses ( Mungos mungo ) populate in and around the Mweya peninsula at Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda over the form of five long time . These well - studied females have a shorter average lifespan than males – 38 months compare to 42 – and the longest - lived female and manly mongooses died at 11 and 12 year sure-enough , respectively . Females also begin reproducing before than males , at about one class of age .
By measure amounts of malondialdehyde ( MDA ) in one C of blood line sample distribution , the team was able to calculate the animal ’ levels of oxidative damage . They found that pregnant mongooses showed abject than anticipate toxin levels – which run short against theories that damage increment during pregnancy . They germinate a protective mechanism that specifically denigrate such hurt .
" We think mother mongooses harbour their young by reduce their own levels of oxidative harm during breeding , " Vitikainen tell in astatement . " However , she could be trading her own retentive terminus well being for the light terminus welfare of protecting the growing pups . " Since the force is only temporary , and oxidative wrong reappearance to normal levels after the gestation , the researcher think protective mechanisms during maternity are unsustainable and may have potentially harmful consequences for the mother ’s natural selection .
Mongooses with the lowest levels of oxidative damage were also the most successful at reproducing . They stay healthy and had the largest litters , and their pup had a honest chance of surviving into maturity . This shielding effect is potential stimulate by changes in the content of the mother ' pedigree , but the particular are still unclear . " Mothers might be conform their physiology , " Vitikainen added . " It would be quite a singular adaptation . "
