The results of the experiment display the ineffectiveness of the rate-of-living theory of aging because the scatter plot displays little-to-no correlation between BMR and lifespan of captive, female mammals. Even when there were test subjects with a lifespan of 15-20 years, the BMR was not drastically different compared to test subjects with a lifespan of 5-10 years. As mentioned previously, there are deeper, underlying variables for variance in lifespan or BMR among mammal species. Such variables include the following: body mass, size, mitochondria structure, fatty acid composition of cell membranes, sex, etc. However, this experiment had limitations that could have lead to inaccurate or biased results.The sample size was comprised of 16 different species of captive, female mammals. The sample size was too small and didn't account for captive,male mammals. Also, this experiment did not observe different types of animals that were not mammals. Different results may have been seen if the subjects were all different species of bird, reptile or amphibian.
