Data from: Heritability and cross-sex genetic correlations of early life circulating testosterone levels in a wild mammal

Testosterone is an important hormone that has been shown to have sex-specific links to fitness in numerous species. Although testosterone concentrations vary substantially between individuals in a population, little is known about its heritable genetic basis or between-sex genetic correlations that determine its evolutionary potential. We found circulating neonatal testosterone levels to be both heritable (0.160 ± 0.064 s.e.) and correlated between the sexes (0.942 ± 0.648 s.e.) in wild red deer calves (Cervus elaphus). This may have important evolutionary implications if, as in adults, the sexes have divergent optima for circulating testosterone levels.

Pavitt, A. T., Walling, C. A., Pemberton, J. M., & Kruuk, L. E. B. (2014). Data from: Heritability and cross-sex genetic correlations of early life circulating testosterone levels in a wild mammal [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7jn8t