Reduced injury risk links sociality to survival in a group-living primate
Melissa A. Pavez-Fox,
Clare M. Kimock,
Nahiri Rivera-Barreto,
Josue E. Negron-Del Valle,
Daniel Phillips,
Angelina Ruiz-Lambides,
Noah Snyder-Mackler,
James P. Higham,
Erin R. Siracusa,
Lauren J.N. Brent
Affiliations
Melissa A. Pavez-Fox
Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, United Kingdom; Corresponding author
Clare M. Kimock
Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
Nahiri Rivera-Barreto
Caribbean Primate Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan 00936-5067, Puerto Rico
Josue E. Negron-Del Valle
Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Temple, AZ 85281, USA
Daniel Phillips
Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Temple, AZ 85281, USA
Angelina Ruiz-Lambides
Caribbean Primate Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan 00936-5067, Puerto Rico; Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
Noah Snyder-Mackler
Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Temple, AZ 85281, USA; School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Temple, AZ 85281, USA
James P. Higham
Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
Erin R. Siracusa
Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, United Kingdom
Lauren J.N. Brent
Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, United Kingdom; Corresponding author
Summary: Sociality has been linked to a longer lifespan in many mammals, including humans. Yet, how sociality results in survival benefits remains unclear. Using 10 years of data and over 1,000 recorded injuries in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), we tested two injury-related mechanisms by which social status and affiliative partners might influence survival. Injuries increased individual risk of death by 3-fold in this dataset. We found that sociality can affect individuals’ survival by reducing their risk of injury but had no effect on the probability of injured individuals dying. Both males and females of high social status (measured as female matrilineal rank and male group tenure) and females with more affiliative partners (estimated using the number of female relatives) experienced fewer injuries and thus were less likely to die. Collectively, our results offer rare insights into one mechanism that can mediate the well-known benefits of sociality on an individual’s fitness.
