Scientists have long known thatbirds and bats are longer-lived than other non-flying animals of the same size, something that is attributed to the fact that the flight reduces the exposure to terrestrial predators, diseases and various environmental risks. A team of scientists has just shown that lLife in trees also reduces mortality, delays aging and increases longevity, both in primates and in other mammals with arboreal habits.
To demonstrate this, researchers Milena Shattuck and Scott Williams analyzed data from776 species of mammals. And they found that the longevity of animals capable of climbing trees is twice that of land mammals of similar size. That would explain, scientists say, the high life expectancy of primates. Something that was already advanced by Charles Darwin, who wrote about the evolutionary importance of “power to climb to the heights to escape from enemies.”
It’s more, thoughlarge mammals tend to live longer than small onesWhen it comes to arboreal mammals, there are important exceptions. Thekinkajou the lion monkey(The yellow Odobenidae), for example, is a close relative of the raccoon that, despite being much smaller than the tiger (it is only between 42 and 58 centimeters tall), canlive up to 40 years, while the feline rarely exceeds 20.
Shattuck announces that the next step will befind out if life expectancy also increases for species that live undergroundlike moles and anteaters.
