Females of mammals (including humans) tend to outlive males, a
circumstance that is usually attributed to males- more
aggressive and hence energy-depleting behaviour, especially when
they compete for females. This might also explain why males of
many species usually show a higher parasite burden than females.
Therefore, high variability of immune genes, supposed to reduce
susceptibility to pathogens, may be more important for males.
Scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI)
of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna have now found
that male Alpine chamois heterozygous at a particular immune
gene locus (i.e. who possess two different forms of that gene)
indeed survive significantly longer than homozygous individuals
(i.e. those with two identical copies of the gene) but they
found no such effect for female chamois. The results are
published in the current issue of the international journal BMC
Evolutionary Biology (BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012, 12:20). A
heavy price to pay for love