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Social bonds, social status and survival in wild baboons: a tale of two sexes.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Campos, FA; Villavicencio, F; Archie, EA; Colchero, F; Alberts, SC
Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
November 2020

People who are more socially integrated or have higher socio-economic status live longer. Recent studies in non-human primates show striking convergences with this human pattern: female primates with more social partners, stronger social bonds or higher dominance rank all lead longer lives. However, it remains unclear whether social environments also predict survival in male non-human primates, as it does in men. This gap persists because, in most primates, males disperse among social groups, resulting in many males who disappear with unknown fate and have unknown dates of birth. We present a Bayesian model to estimate the effects of time-varying social covariates on age-specific adult mortality in both sexes of wild baboons. We compare how the survival trajectories of both sexes are linked to social bonds and social status over the life. We find that, parallel to females, male baboons who are more strongly bonded to females have longer lifespans. However, males with higher dominance rank for their age appear to have shorter lifespans. This finding brings new understanding to the adaptive significance of heterosexual social bonds for male baboons: in addition to protecting the male's offspring from infanticide, these bonds may have direct benefits to males themselves. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution of the primate ageing process'.

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Published In

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences

DOI

EISSN

1471-2970

ISSN

0962-8436

Publication Date

November 2020

Volume

375

Issue

1811

Start / End Page

20190621

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Dominance
  • Social Behavior
  • Sex Factors
  • Psychological Distance
  • Papio cynocephalus
  • Mortality
  • Models, Biological
  • Male
  • Kenya
  • Female
 

Citation

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Campos, F. A., Villavicencio, F., Archie, E. A., Colchero, F., & Alberts, S. C. (2020). Social bonds, social status and survival in wild baboons: a tale of two sexes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 375(1811), 20190621. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0621
Campos, Fernando A., Francisco Villavicencio, Elizabeth A. Archie, Fernando Colchero, and Susan C. Alberts. “Social bonds, social status and survival in wild baboons: a tale of two sexes.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 375, no. 1811 (November 2020): 20190621. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0621.
Campos FA, Villavicencio F, Archie EA, Colchero F, Alberts SC. Social bonds, social status and survival in wild baboons: a tale of two sexes. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological sciences. 2020 Nov;375(1811):20190621.
Campos, Fernando A., et al. “Social bonds, social status and survival in wild baboons: a tale of two sexes.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, vol. 375, no. 1811, Nov. 2020, p. 20190621. Epmc, doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0621.
Campos FA, Villavicencio F, Archie EA, Colchero F, Alberts SC. Social bonds, social status and survival in wild baboons: a tale of two sexes. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological sciences. 2020 Nov;375(1811):20190621.
Journal cover image

Published In

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences

DOI

EISSN

1471-2970

ISSN

0962-8436

Publication Date

November 2020

Volume

375

Issue

1811

Start / End Page

20190621

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Dominance
  • Social Behavior
  • Sex Factors
  • Psychological Distance
  • Papio cynocephalus
  • Mortality
  • Models, Biological
  • Male
  • Kenya
  • Female