Large families and strong social bonds help primates live longer. Scientists from the University of Exeter found this out, studying about a thousand rhesus monkeys in Puerto Rico for 21 years. The result, according to experts, is applicable to humans. A press release for the study is posted on Phys.org.
As an indicator of the number of social connections in primates, biologists took the number of relatives in an individual. It turned out that each relative reduced the likelihood of an animal dying in the next year by 2.3 percent.
This relationship, however, was not found in older females. Scientists believe this is due to differences in behavior between the older generation of primates and young monkeys. For example, animals tend to be aggressive in order to take a place in the group, and they want other members of the group to take care of them, for example, to help get rid of parasites. Older rhesus monkeys were more selective in social relations, which reduced their number, despite the presence of a large family.
Scientists believe that the results of the study will help to find out how ancient people coexisted with each other, and whether this affected their quality of life. Since social bonds are conducive to longevity, evolution could thus contribute to the development of primitive societies.