Life history studies focus on describing the reproductive and survival characteristics of a species. Describing a species’ life history includes, but is not limited to, determining how long individuals live, the age at which they become sexually mature and first reproduce, how often they breed, how long they nurse their young, where they forage and what they eat. Although life history studies focus on individual variability, the combined data for many individuals provides the information necessary to understand a species’ demography, or their growth rate potential. The following are some of the links to life history studies at the SWFSC: