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1. The long lives of primates and the ‘invariant rate of ageing’ hypothesis

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23894-3  

   Colchero, Fernando; Aburto, José Manuel; Archie, Elizabeth A.; Boesch, Christophe; Breuer, Thomas; Campos, Fernando A.; Collins, Anthony; Conde, Dalia A.; Cords, Marina; Crockford, Catherine; et al (December 2021, Nature Communications)

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   Abstract Is it possible to slow the rate of ageing, or do biological constraints limit its plasticity? We test the ‘invariant rate of ageing’ hypothesis, which posits that the rate of ageing is relatively fixed within species, with a collection of 39 human and nonhuman primate datasets across seven genera. We first recapitulate, in nonhuman primates, the highly regular relationship between life expectancy and lifespan equality seen in humans. We next demonstrate that variation in the rate of ageing within genera is orders of magnitude smaller than variation in pre-adult and age-independent mortality. Finally, we demonstrate that changes in the rate of ageing, but not other mortality parameters, produce striking, species-atypical changes in mortality patterns. Our results support the invariant rate of ageing hypothesis, implying biological constraints on how much the human rate of ageing can be slowed. 

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2. Variation in primate decision-making under uncertainty and the roots of human economic behaviour

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0671  

   De Petrillo, Francesca; Rosati, Alexandra G. (March 2021, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

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   Uncertainty is a ubiquitous component of human economic behaviour, yet people can vary in their preferences for risk across populations, individuals and different points in time. As uncertainty also characterizes many aspects of animal decision-making, comparative research can help evaluate different potential mechanisms that generate this variation, including the role of biological differences or maturational change versus cultural learning, as well as identify human-unique components of economic decision-making. Here, we examine decision-making under risk across non-human primates, our closest relatives. We first review theoretical approaches and current methods for understanding decision-making in animals. We then assess the current evidence for variation in animal preferences between species and populations, between individuals based on personality, sex and age, and finally, between different contexts and individual states. We then use these primate data to evaluate the processes that can shape human decision-making strategies and identify the primate foundations of human economic behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Existence and prevalence of economic behaviours among non-human primates’. 

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3. Understanding age and society using natural populations

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0469  

   Firth, Josh A; Albery, Gregory F; Bouwhuis, Sandra; Brent, Lauren_J N; Salguero-Gómez, Roberto (December 2024, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   Ageing affects almost all aspects of life and therefore is an important process across societies, human and non-human animal alike. This article introduces new research exploring the complex interplay between individual-level ageing and demography, and the consequences this interplay holds for the structure and functioning of societies across various natural populations. We discuss how this Special Issue provides a foundation for integrating perspectives from evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology and demography to provide new insights into how ageing shapes individuals’ social behaviour and social associations, and how this in turn impacts social networks, social processes (such as disease or information transfer) and fitness. Through examining these topics across taxa, from invertebrates to birds and mammals, we outline how contemporary studies are using natural populations to advance our understanding of the relationship between age and society in innovative ways. We highlight key emerging research themes from this Special Issue, such as how sociality affects lifespan and health, the genetic and ecological underpinnings of social ageing and the adaptive strategies employed by different species. We conclude that this Special Issue underscores the importance of studying social ageing using diverse systems and interdisciplinary approaches for advancing evolutionary and ecological insights into both ageing and sociality more generally. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘Understanding age and society using natural populations ’. 

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4. Neural correlates of mating system diversity: oxytocin and vasopressin receptor distributions in monogamous and non-monogamous Eulemur

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83342-6  

   Grebe, Nicholas M.; Sharma, Annika; Freeman, Sara M.; Palumbo, Michelle C.; Patisaul, Heather B.; Bales, Karen L.; Drea, Christine M. (February 2021, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Contemporary theory that emphasizes the roles of oxytocin and vasopressin in mammalian sociality has been shaped by seminal vole research that revealed interspecific variation in neuroendocrine circuitry by mating system. However, substantial challenges exist in interpreting and translating these rodent findings to other mammalian groups, including humans, making research on nonhuman primates crucial. Both monogamous and non-monogamous species exist withinEulemur, a genus of strepsirrhine primate, offering a rare opportunity to broaden a comparative perspective on oxytocin and vasopressin neurocircuitry with increased evolutionary relevance to humans. We performed oxytocin and arginine vasopressin 1a receptor autoradiography on 12Eulemurbrains from seven closely related species to (1) characterize receptor distributions across the genus, and (2) examine differences between monogamous and non-monogamous species in regions part of putative “pair-bonding circuits”. We find some binding patterns acrossEulemurreminiscent of olfactory-guided rodents, but others congruent with more visually oriented anthropoids, consistent with lemurs occupying an ‘intermediary’ evolutionary niche between haplorhine primates and other mammalian groups. We find little evidence of a “pair-bonding circuit” inEulemurakin to those proposed in previous rodent or primate research. Mapping neuropeptide receptors in these nontraditional species questions existing assumptions and informs proposed evolutionary explanations about the biological bases of monogamy. 

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5. Comparative economics: how studying other primates helps us better understand the evolution of our own economic decision making

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0497  

   Brosnan, Sarah F.; Wilson, Bart J. (May 2023, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   The origins of evolutionary games are rooted in both economics and animal behaviour, but economics has, until recently, focused primarily on humans. Although historically, specific games were used in targeted circumstances with non-human species (i.e. the Prisoner's Dilemma), experimental economics has been increasingly recognized as a valuable method for directly comparing both the outcomes of economic decisions and their underlying mechanisms across species, particularly in comparison with humans, thanks to the structured procedures that allow for them to be instantiated across a variety of animals. So far, results in non-human primates suggest that even when outcomes are shared, underlying proximate mechanisms can vary substantially. Intriguingly, in some contexts non-human primates more easily find a Nash equilibrium than do humans, possibly owing to their greater willingness to explore the parameter space, but humans excel at more complex outcomes, such as alternating between two Nash equilibria, even when deprived of language or instruction, suggesting potential mechanisms that humans have evolved to allow us to solve complex social problems. We consider what these results suggest about the evolution of economic decision-making and suggest future directions, in particular the need to expand taxonomic diversity, to expand this promising approach. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Half a century of evolutionary games: a synthesis of theory, application and future directions'. 

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