View article

Survival and reproduction are key features in the evolution of life–history strategies. In this study, we use capture–mark–resighting and multi–state models to examine survival senescence and reproductive senescence in six successive cohorts of fallow bucks that were studied for 16 years. We found that the overall age-specific survival probabilities of males were highly variable and the best–fitting model revealed that fallow bucks have four life–history stages: yearling, pre–reproductive, prime–age and senescent. Pre–reproductive males (2 and 3 years old) had the highest survival. Survival declined sharply after the age of 9 years, indicating that senescence had begun. When we considered reproducing and non-reproducing males separately, there was no evidence of senescence in the former, and steadily decreasing survival after the onset of social maturity in the latter. Reproduction probability also declined in …