Strong social bonds help lady baboons live longer

Our social bonds can affect our health and how long we live, and the same appears to be true for some baboons. Wild female baboons with stronger social connections to both female and male baboons live longer than females with weaker ties, researchers report September 10 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The study is one of the first to show that male-female bonds can boost a female baboon’s health and survival. The finding also supports the idea that survival may be a big benefit of strong relationships in social mammals other than humans.