![]() The forest in Ngogo provides a relatively consistent and abundant supply of high-energy and nutritious foods, including easily digestible figs. This study reveals that Ngogo chimpanzees have the highest life expectancy on record for any group of wild chimpanzees.įavorable ecological conditions largely account for the Ngogo community’s high life expectancy, according to the study. The directors of the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project - David Watts (Yale), John Mitani (University of Michigan) and Kevin Langergraber (Arizona State University) - have monitored births, deaths, immigrations, and emigrations in the unusually large Ngogo chimpanzee community since 1995, producing the largest demographic dataset available for any community of wild chimpanzees. The Ngogo chimpanzees reside in the center of Kibale National Park, in southwestern Uganda. “They also inform the study of the evolution of human life history, helping us to imagine the conditions that could have changed mortality rates among our early hominin populations.” “Our findings show how ecological factors, including variation in food supplies and predation levels, drive variation in life expectancy among wild chimpanzee populations,” said Brian Wood, assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University, the study’s lead author. These findings are important for understanding the evolution of chimpanzee and hominin life histories, the researchers argue. The study, published March 19 in the Journal of Human Evolution, establishes an average life expectancy of about 33 years in its sample of 306 chimpanzees, nearly twice as high as that of other chimpanzee communities and within the 27- to 37-year range of life expectancy at birth of human hunter-gatherers. And no matter the amount of time, goodbyes always come too quickly.A 20-year demographic study of a large chimpanzee community in Uganda’s Kibale National Park has revealed that, under the right ecological conditions, our close primate relatives can lead surprisingly long lives in the wild. Our mission is still to provide every chimp with exemplary care and help them enjoy an enriched life, for however long they have left. While we would like to believe they could all live to see their senior years, we will have to accept that less than half will. We have experienced two deaths in our family one was younger, passing at just 15 years old and the other passing at age 34. We currently have 8 chimps who are older than the average age and 70 who are younger. But just as importantly, it can help give us more realistic expectations about the lives and changing conditions of the chimpanzees who we all love and support. Life expectancy can help us predict future needs in our sanctuary population. The importance of this issue is more than just a math equation – it has the power to shape the way we think about many different aspects of captive chimpanzee care. Of course, many wild chimpanzees live longer, with the oldest wild chimpanzee estimated to be about 63 years old when she passed away. One recent study found that average life expectancy for chimpanzees was 33 years. Life expectancy in wild chimpanzees tends to be a little lower than in captive chimps. What is the average life expectancy for humans? It is currently 72. Like humans, chimpanzees are individuals and there is no easy way to predict their life expectancy. However, you would also expect some to pass before the average age. So you would expect to see some chimpanzees live past the average age – Little Mama famously lived to be 79 before she passed in 2017. These figures were provided to us by Lincoln Park Zoo’s ChimpDATA as part of a unique program we participated in to help project future demographic trends in sanctuaries, and are based on over 35 years of records from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) institutions. For chimpanzees in captivity the mean life expectancy is only 32.5 years for males and 40.1 years for females. Just as most humans will not celebrate their 100 th birthday, most chimpanzees will not live into their 60s. ![]() Greg is currently the oldest chimp in residence, turning 40 on Sept 21, 2020. Over the years, however, researchers have collected more and more data on captive and wild chimpanzees and a new picture has emerged, one which has drastically changed our understanding of chimpanzee longevity. Now search human life expectancy and you may get lost in the search results as it varies vastly among countries and cultures, but you may find that some humans can expect to live to 100-115 years now!įor a species such as chimpanzees that have only been studied on a large scale for a handful of generations and whose lifespan is measured in decades, reliable data is still being compiled. Search the internet for “chimpanzee life expectancy” and you may read that chimpanzees live 50-60 years in captivity and a little less in the wild, or something to that effect. ![]()
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