Data from: Social and early life determinants of survival from cradle to grave: a case study in wild baboons
Harsh early life environments are linked to a variety of negative outcomes in humans and non-human primates, including poor survival in adulthood. Understanding the pathways that drive the relationship between early life adversity and reduced survival is key both for understanding the evolutionary and biological underpinnings of this relationship, and for informing social policy. In this study, we leverage a long-term dataset of a wild animal model of aging, baboons of the Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya, to test hypotheses about how adult physiological phenotypes link early life adversity to adult survival. We find that for each additional source of early life adversity experienced by female baboons, the concentration of glucocorticoid metabolites in fecal samples (fGC) during adulthood increased by 12%, and adult lifespan decreased by 1.7 years. However, we find little evidence that adult fGC profiles mediate the effects of early life adversity and adult survival. Instead, we find independent effects of early life adversity and adult fGC concentrations on survival. The negative effects of maternal loss and low maternal social connectedness on survival are also buffered by a decrease in fGC concentrations. Our results show strong effects of early life environments on adult life and indicate that adult physiological processes can help mitigate the costs of negative early life environments.
