Those Who Are Smarter Live Longer, at Least Among Mouse Lemurs
Published:10 Aug.2023 Source:Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ)/German Primate Center
Being smart pays off, as it allows for more balanced decision-making. However, the origins of these abilities during evolution remain largely unexplored. Only if smarter individuals enjoy better survival and have higher reproductive rates than their conspecifics, improved cognitive abilities can evolve. Researchers from the German Primate Center (DPZ)--Leibniz Institute for Primate Research have recently examined the link between cognitive abilities and survival in gray mouse lemurs.
They administered four different cognitive tests and two personality tests to 198 animals, while also measuring their weight and tracking their survival over several years. The cognition tests assessed problem-solving (reaching food by manipulating a slider), spatial memory (remembering the location of hidden food), inhibitory control (taking a detour to access food), and causal understanding (retrieving food by pulling a string). The first personality test evaluated exploratory behavior, while the second measured curiosity through the animals’ reactions to unfamiliar objects.
In the study, individuals that performed better in the cognitive tests exhibited less exploratory behavior compared to poorer performing conspecifics. Conversely, more explorative individuals had higher weights, likely due to their ability to find food more easily. The study also found that animals with better cognitive performance, higher weight, and stronger exploratory behavior tended to have longer lifespans.