Mice bred to run three times farther show no fertility or lifespan cost
Being an elite athlete—at least for a mouse—does not shorten lifespan or limit how many children one can have. This is the finding of a study 30 years in the making, and it runs counter to accepted evolutionary theory.
Researchers bred mice to run three times farther than ordinary mice, yet these "high runner" mice showed no increase in mortality or decline in fertility over a 30-year study, defying evolutionary theory. Contrary to expectations, the high runners did not produce fewer offspring and lived at least as long as their regular counterparts.
The study, led by UC Riverside professor Theodore Garland, monitored both groups under identical laboratory conditions with unlimited food and water. The research, one of the longest such experiments ever conducted, suggests that resource-rich environments may allow animals to maintain both high activity levels and reproductive success without incurring evolutionary trade-offs.
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