Male badgers that spend their youth fighting tend to age more quickly than their passive counterparts according to new research from the University of Exeter.
The 35-year study revealed that male badgers living alongside a high density of other males grow old more quickly than those living with lower densities of males.
The results, which are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, indicate that competition between males in early life accelerates ageing in later life, providing a potential explanation for why males age faster than females.