The emergence of longevous populations.
Abstract
The human lifespan has traversed a long evolutionary and historical path, from short-lived
primate ancestors to contemporary Japan, Sweden, and other longevity frontrunners.
Analyzing this trajectory is crucial for understanding biological and sociocultural
processes that determine the span of life. Here we reveal a fundamental regularity.
Two straight lines describe the joint rise of life expectancy and lifespan equality:
one for primates and the second one over the full range of human experience from average
lifespans as low as 2 y during mortality crises to more than 87 y for Japanese women
today. Across the primate order and across human populations, the lives of females
tend to be longer and less variable than the lives of males, suggesting deep evolutionary
roots to the male disadvantage. Our findings cast fresh light on primate evolution
and human history, opening directions for research on inequality, sociality, and aging.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14645Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1073/pnas.1612191113Publication Info
Colchero, Fernando; Rau, Roland; Jones, Owen R; Barthold, Julia A; Conde, Dalia A;
Lenart, Adam; ... Vaupel, James W (2016). The emergence of longevous populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 113(48). pp. E7681-E7690. 10.1073/pnas.1612191113. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14645.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Susan C. Alberts
Robert F. Durden Distinguished Professor of Biology
Research in the Alberts Lab investigates the evolution of social behavior, particularly
in mammals, with a specific focus on the social behavior, demography, life history,
and behavioral endocrinology of wild primates. Our main study system is the baboon
population in Amboseli, Kenya, one of the longest-running studies of wild primates
in the world, ongoing since 1971.
Anne Pusey
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emerita of Evolutionary Anthropology
I have recently retired and am not taking on new students although I am continuing
some research projects. I am interested in understanding the evolution of sociality,
social structure, and the patterns of competition, cooperation and social bonds in
animal species, including humans. Most of my work has focused on social mammals: lions
and chimpanzees. For the last twenty five years I have worked almost exclusively on
the long term Gombe chimpanzee project. I have gathered the data
James Walton Vaupel
Research Professor Emeritus in the Sanford School of Public Policy
This author no longer has a Scholars@Duke profile, so the information shown here reflects
their Duke status at the time this item was deposited.
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