Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan.

ABSTRACT: Early life adversity predicts shorter adult lifespan in several animal taxa. Yet, work on long-lived primate populations suggests the evolution of mechanisms that contribute to resiliency and long lives despite early life insults. Here, we tested associations between individual and cumulative early life adversity and lifespan on rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago Biological Field Station using 50 years of demographic data. We performed sex-specific survival analyses at different life stages to contrast short-term effects of adversity (i.e., infant survival) with long-term effects (i.e., adult survival). Female infants showed vulnerability to multiple adversities at birth, but affected females who survived to adulthood experienced a reduced risk later in life. In contrast, male infants sh

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10626128 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature