Female birds have shorter lifespans than male birds, researchers find

But the toll of these activities may be greater for female birds than males. A new study by UCLA ornithologists has found that female birds have lower survival rates than males. The research is the first to study female bird survival in a large dataset and shows that the phenomenon is more widespread than previously recognized. Wu decided to look at female survival in a big dataset to find out how common a shorter lifespan was. “This could be further evidence connecting the sex chromosome to reduced longevity in female birds, but that’s a question we haven’t directly investigated yet.”