Large‑egg‑laying Japanese quails live 20% shorter
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- Japanese quails were selectively bred over five to six generations into lines that lay relatively large or small eggs.
- Large‑egg‑laying females lived an average of 595 days, about 20% shorter than small‑egg‑laying females, which lived 770 days.
- Dr. Barbara Tschirren of the University of Exeter said the results provide genetic evidence that higher reproductive effort accelerates aging.
- The study represents the first artificial‑selection test in a vertebrate species of the evolutionary trade‑off between offspring investment and lifespan.
- Males were not conclusively affected because they naturally live longer and the experiment’s duration was insufficient.
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B published the research in 2026 (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.2908).
Why it matters: Evolutionary biologists and animal breeders gain concrete evidence that allocating more resources to eggs shortens female quail lifespan by roughly 20% (595 vs 770 days), confirming a genetic link between reproductive effort and aging that can evolve rapidly and suggests that similar trade‑offs may operate across vertebrates, informing life‑history models.
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