Making fewer friends protects aging monkeys from disease, study finds

New research shows that being less social protected older monkeys from getting sick.

Many animals, including humans, are known to experience “social aging”, that is, a decrease in their numbers. social links as you get older. But why this happens remains a mystery.

The new study, conducted by the universities of Exeter and Edinburgh, used long-term data. rhesus macaques On Cayo Santiago, also known as Monkey Island.

They found that older macaques suffered less from infectious diseases. illnessmostly because their social networks are smaller.

studyPublished as part of the special issue “Social aging may protect against infectious diseases in a group-living primate.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Bedited by Professor Lauren Brent, University of Exeter.

Dr. from Exeter Animal Behavior Research Centre. “Social bonds provide great benefits to a wide range of species, but sociality also has costs, including risk of infectious disease,” said Erin Siracusa.

“This cost-benefit ratio can change over individuals’ lifetimes, leading to changes in social behavior.

“Older individuals may be more susceptible to disease, but when we took this into account in our data, we found that older macaques suffered a lower cost of infection than their younger counterparts.

“Our findings reveal a strong reason why many animals, including humans, reduce their social connections as they age.”

The benefits macaques gained from social aging depended on the diseases involved.

Unsurprisingly, the benefit was strongest when diseases were highly contagious and more severe for older macaques.

From the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Matthew Silk said: “Our results suggest that diseases have the potential to help explain why ‘social ageing’ develops, which is something we would like to test in future research.”

Name of the special issue of the journal “Understanding age and society using natural populations.”