INCREASED FEMALE MORTALITY AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER: Perspectives from primate studies

In general, studies across both humans and non-human primate species have found that females are much more likely to die than males during or in the direct aftermath of an environmental disaster. In humans, this result is primarily explained by social constraints and inequalities placed on women. In non-human primates, however, the high energetic cost of reproduction in females is generally the explanation. As is the case across multiple species, many females were in the costly reproductive phase of lactation at the time of their deaths. This biological cost of reproduction may be so great, that in some populations all females collectively delay reproduction following an environmental disaster until a solid resource base has returned. This chapter will compare explanations used to explain high female mortality in women with those in non-human primate females to give a more holistic and cross-species view of mortality across all females. This information will serve to better elicit common predictors of post-disaster female mortality in general to better mitigate future loss.