A Mammal That Dies After Mating Only Once
- 演化之聲
- Mar 15
- 4 min read
In biology, reproductive strategies can broadly be divided into two categories based on how many times a species reproduces during its lifetime: semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species reproduce only once before dying, whereas iteroparous species reproduce multiple times over the course of their lives. Many people learn early on that salmon migrate back to the rivers where they were born to spawn and then die shortly afterward. Because reproduction is followed immediately by death, this strategy is often perceived as inefficient or extreme. Yet in many groups of animals such as arthropods, molluscs, and fishes, this life history pattern is quite common. Among mammals, however, it has received far less attention, largely because it is genuinely rare.
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