A little mistake: Lions can get pregnant after death.

Dr4gon

Dr4gon
It seems lions can stay fertile after
fertility.jpg
death. They live 14 years and stay fertile until 15 y.o. :)
 

MrTux

MrTux
I think life expectancy is only the average/most common time when they die. But some individuals (in Planet Zoo animals with high life expectancy gene), especially in zoos where they get a lot of attention and care from a veterinarian, can live longer. Then, the age of sterility comes regardless of how good the vets are (or in Planet Zoo regardless of how good the genes are). It is not rare in nature that for some species, that most animals never reach the age of sexual sterility.
I often have Pronghorns who live until 12 or even 13 even though their life expectancy is 11 years.
 
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Dr4gon

Dr4gon
So the average fertility is up to 15, but the average life expectancy is 14. That makes no sense. "Some" individuals only set the standard if they live to be much longer to really have a influence on the standard and fertility all the way. :unsure:

It's not like that 10% has to live 1 year longer. There must be some lions as old as Methusalem to influence the average. But like it says, the average life expectancy is 14, not 15.
 

MrTux

MrTux
Dr4gon said:
So the average fertility is up to 15, but the average life expectancy is 14. That makes no sense. "Some" individuals only set the standard if they live to be much longer to really have a influence on the standard and fertility all the way. :unsure:

It's not like that 10% has to live 1 year longer. There must be some lions as old as Methusalem to influence the average. But like it says, the average life expectancy is 14, not 15.
Click to expand...
I don't 100% understand what you mean by that but I will try to explain it differently.

Let's say a scientist did a study on how long lions live and when they become sterile. This might be his results:
AgeAmount of lions that have died at this ageAmount of lions that have become sterile at this age
12 or younger100 (these lions all died before they could become infertile by old age)
13150 (these lions all died before they could become infertile by old age)
14 (average life expectancy)500 (these lions all died before they could become infertile by old age)
151525
16 or older10These lions had all been sterile since they were 15 years old.
Most lions die at 14, it's both the average and the median age of death. So the life expectancy of lions is 14. Of course there are outliers to both sides, some lions died earlier, others had a longer life. But none of the lions that died at 14 or before ever became infertile in their life. Only the lions that got older than 14 became infertile. And these older lions all got infertile at 15, so the age of infertility is 15.
Also note that it is assumed that an animal can not have offspring (in a natural way) if it's dead. "Infertile" only applies to animals that are still alive. :D “Infertility is the inability of a sexually active, non-contracepting couple to achieve pregnancy in one year..." is a definition on the website of the WHO. Even though this definition is for humans, the "sexually active" part implies that both the humans or animals must be alive, because a dead animal or human can't be "sexually active".
Of course the real numbers are harder to work with and the numbers in this post were just invented by me to work as an example.
 

Dr4gon

Dr4gon
I understand it now; The lions who live up to 15 have fertility up until death. But than again, they may just have well said fertility until death. That makes more sense to me. Would have saved us a whole lot of nerdish calculating ;)
 
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