July 5, 2011
Nonhuman primate ageing resembles its human counterpart…We examined whether, as in humans, orang-utan subjective well-being was related to longer life. The sample included 184 zoo-housed orang-utans followed up for approximately 7 years. …in a model that included, and therefore, statistically adjusted for, sex, age, species and transfers, orang-utans rated as being “happier” lived longer. The risk differential between orang-utans that were one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below baseline in subjective well-being was comparable with approximately 11 years in age. This finding suggests that impressions of the subjective well-being of captive great apes are valid indicators of their welfare and longevity. Our analysis was prospective rather than causal, but it is good evidence for a general covitality factor in our and allied species. The figure shows the year-over-year risk of death depending on subjective well-being (SWB, i.e., happiness). The BBC have some comments from Alex and Dick Byrne. Weiss, Adams, King. Happy orang-utans live longer lives. Biology Letters. figure CC-by the authors.

Nonhuman primate ageing resembles its human counterpart…We examined whether, as in humans, orang-utan subjective well-being was related to longer life. The sample included 184 zoo-housed orang-utans followed up for approximately 7 years. …in a model that included, and therefore, statistically adjusted for, sex, age, species and transfers, orang-utans rated as being “happier” lived longer. The risk differential between orang-utans that were one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below baseline in subjective well-being was comparable with approximately 11 years in age. This finding suggests that impressions of the subjective well-being of captive great apes are valid indicators of their welfare and longevity.

Our analysis was prospective rather than causal, but it is good evidence for a general covitality factor in our and allied species. The figure shows the year-over-year risk of death depending on subjective well-being (SWB, i.e., happiness).

The BBC have some comments from Alex and Dick Byrne.

2:11pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z23PQy6mshQ0
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