Does Who You Hang Out With Affect Your Longevity?
From meerkats to macaques, social animals tend to live longer, take more time to reach maturity, and have more extended reproductive periods than their more solitary counterparts, according to research from the University of Oxford.
Living in social groups comes with clear tradeoffs. On one hand, social animals can share resources, protect each other from predators, and help raise offspring together. On the other hand, they face increased risks of disease transmission, competition for resources, and social conflicts. Yet despite these challenges, scientists say the benefits of social living appear to outweigh the costs across the animal kingdom.
The study, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, examined 152 animal species across 13 taxonomic classes, from jellyfish to humans, providing the first broad evidence that sociality shapes animal life patterns across diverse species.
Excerpted from Study Finds
